Super Evangelion
by Cataclyptic
Summary: Second Impact wiped out a third of the world. Third Impact will be worse. Only the mysterious NERV organization and the super-powered teenagers under thier employ stand a fighting chance against the apocalyptic Angels. The genocide of the planet is imminent, but humanity won't go down without giving everything they've got. Superpower AU, expys galore.
1. New Reality I

**Hello All! This is a twoshot Eva Fanfic that I created in my spare time. Inspired by Mobile Fighter Evangelion and the concept of all the Superhero!Eva fanfics running around nowadays, I hope to give you all a good story. I may continue the series if it turns out people like it, but for now this is for my own amusement.**

 **EDIT: This story will be continued!**

 **Quick note: Everyone in the story doubles as an expy for another famous manga/superhero character! See if you can spot which ones are which, or just scroll to the bottom of the picture I've made:**

 **To see how the characters look in the series, go to Deviant art, look up cataclyptic (me), without spaces, go to my gallery and then select the folder for Super Evangelion. Three character sheets are up! I wish I could post links but for now, FF has thwarted all 15 attempts for me to make one. Yes, I tried fifteen times and none of them worked. **

**With all that out of the way, let's begin!**

* * *

Gendo Ikari stepped into a dimly lit room with so much nonchalance, one wouldn't assume the apocalypse was about to start. The black haired man pushed his red circular glasses up for one last time before entering a series of secret codes into his computer terminal. Accepting these codes, the computer linked him up with holographic versions of each SEELE member, who had been awaiting his arrival.

Other than him, five men occupied a position on a long black holographic table, two on each side with Gendo at the back and opposite to him, their leader at the head of the table. The members had disagreed on this, as if made four of them look unimportant by comparison, sitting at the sides while Gendo and Keel occupied the farthest ends of the table. However, the old man had managed to convince them all the matter was of little importance, and Gendo's role at the head of NERV was crucial to The Scenario.

The idiots actually bought the lie. Or at least, Gendo assumed they were all idiots, unable to see the massive ego behind the wrinkled face of their leader. Maybe Keel had them all blackmailed somehow; Gendo wouldn't put it past such a man with unchecked ego to spend billions if only to gain a single edge of importance at a holographic table. This massive ego would be Keel's undoing in the end, but Gendo stayed shut about this. His Plan would be all the better for it.

"I assume preparations are all completed?" asked the Israeli Prime Minister. All six members of SEELE had large power over their respective country in one way or another, for convenience.

"I should hope Gendo made suitable measures," said the Russian leader, "I would not want to wait any longer. Electing Putin as my patsy gets harder with each passing year."

Gendo nearly felt for his glasses, but reasoned it wouldn't be a wise move to display even a bit of insecurity at this vital stage. "All completed as per our designs." said the man simply.

"What of Rei?" asked one of them.

"Rei has completed her training." the bearded man spoke succinctly, "There is nothing further to do but wait."

At this, Keel Lorenz rose from his spot. His ancient face almost twisted into a smile, or was that Gendo's imagination? At any rate he spoke. "Then wait we shall. Gentlemen," he gestured to each of them, "immortality and godhood are at our fingertips. Let us allow these items to come into our grasp."

The members of SEELE agreed with this notion. Gendo had done his part, so there was nothing further to discuss. The members of the organization each faded one after another until the black haired NERV leader was left with Keel Lorenz. It seemed as though the old man had something else he wanted to say.

"Gendo. Like it or not, all of our hopes rest upon you. So let me be clear:" spoke the man in a semi-threatening tone, "Do not fail me."

The NERV leader displayed no emotion. He and Keel held a staring contest for a couple more seconds before the leader finally turned off his hologram as well. He was alone.

Being alone suited Gendo though, as the one person whom he allowed to stay in his company willingly had passed away long ago. But soon, that would change. With the Scenario, everything would be as if it was back then. She would once again be in his grasp, and it would be the two of together, forever, as it should be.

Gendo clutched the locket that he kept hidden under his shirt unconsciously, but relished in the texture. Inside the locket was a simple photo: him and his wife. Before their son came along, everything had been perfect. Soon, that distant memory would become a reality once again. For Gendo Ikari at least, the old adage rang true.

Love makes you do crazy things.

* * *

Super Evangelion

New Reality (Act one: Beast from Beyond)

* * *

A roaring crowd had gathered on the grounds outside of Tokyo-3 High School, their shouts of encouragement filling their air the sort of zeal that only teenagers can create. The grounds, devoid of teachers at the hour, was jam packed with students each trying to get a better shot of the center and bets going around via whispering.

"Scuse me! Pardon me! Best friend coming through! I need to record this and I have the best camera so get out of my way!" shouted a bespectacled brown haired boy moving his way through the crowd. He was dressed in the school's uniform, a white shirt with a red tie, but where one would expect to find black pants instead found black and green army trousers. The boy insisted that he wear it under his black pants every single say at school, no matter how sweaty he got.

Kensuke Aida was a military nut and he would be damned if everyone else didn't know that too. The boy finally made it to the edge of the crowd where he pushed himself free onto the circle that had formed by the crowd's boundaries. He flipped up his camera, aiming it at the two combatants.

In the center of this teenage wall were two contestants who had agreed to a brawl outside of class, something always appreciated by the youth. This was nothing out of the ordinary considering who these fighters were, but nonetheless whatever happened next would definitely be fun.

"Toji!" Kensuke waved to his best friend, a somewhat tall boy wearing of all things, a tracksuit.

Toji Suzuhara regarded Kensuke first with a curt nod, then with an overconfident grin that can only be achieved by being a hormone addled male with a penchant for risk. His red and white tracksuit, the lucky one, only gave the black haired boy even more confidence as he stared down his hated arch enemy: The German Hellspawn Bitch From Hell.

Said young woman of Germanic descent eyed Toji with a queenly look, that of the ruler stepping down to meet the commoner at equal length, for amusement. She brushed a bit of her orange hair aside and flashed a grin of perfect white teeth at the eager crowd.

"TOJI!" A new voice had entered the area, a panting young girl who had just managed to pass the wall of flesh surrounding he two fighters. Her brown hair was braided into a single short ponytail held by a ribbon. Dressed in the usual female uniform of a white undershirt, blue blazer and long skirt, Toji noticed that as per usual, her attire didn't have a single wrinkle on it. How and why she bothered to keep that up he would never know. Still, he supposed, that was a part of her cute charm.

"Toji!" the class rep shouted again, "Are you REALLY taking on Asuka again!?"

"Yuh-huh."

"You're just going to get your ass kicked AGAIN and wind up in the hospital!" protested the concerned girl.

"She has a point," chimed in the orange haired opponent, "After that last humiliation I would have thought you'd stop."

"HEY!" The black haired youth decided to issue a few corrections: "The hospital thing was only one time! And secondly, I'm gonna win this time for sure because I'm a lot stronger than before!"

"Really?" the brown haired girl sighed, realizing she couldn't possibly reason with him at this stage, "Why, Toji?"

"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." said Toji Suzuhara, flashing a pose trying to look cool while saying a clichéd line but coming off as cheesy instead. His flexed arms showed a bit of a bulge even while wearing a tracksuit, reminding the hormone addled teenage girl just how muscular the athlete was. That wasn't saying much, since anyone who had awakened their power tended to be at peak physical fitness, but in the case of Toji it made Hikari Horiaki hot and bothered for reasons she refused to elaborate on.

The class rep tried to steady herself by focusing on her foreign friend, Asuka Langley Soryuu. The Queen.

Now here was a perfect example of what awakening ones power did to a person. Asuka had muscles that fitness models dreamed of; not big like Toji's, but big enough to notice. Her six pack was legendary amongst students and had managed to convert more than a few boys to 'that side' when swimsuit day happened. But of course, the perfect Queen wouldn't stop there so in addition to the muscles she elected to have a large, feminine chest, helping further her appeal.

Her long orange hair seemed to glow in the sunlight, evoking a sense of sublime. Her fair face and vibrant, almost mystically blue eyes were able to pierce through anyone she looked at like a ruler should. Her lips were pursed into a soft but haughty smile.

Her appearance was indicative of, or perhaps a result of, how powerful she was.

"So are we doing this or what?" The German girl tapped her foot, impatient. Her eyes looked around at everyone who was watching, gauging their reactions.

"Idiot!" Toji shouted back "I'm waiting for the start signal!" he looked towards Kensuke. The brown haired boy had no idea he was the one who was supposed to start the fight, but apparently Toji decided that beforehand. Kensuke was used to this behavior though and adapted.

"Are both combatants ready!?" Kensuke shouted. Toji nodded his head once, but furiously. Asuka merely grinned, placing one hand on her hip and leaving the other at her side. Kensuke continued "Then… GO!"

Toji Suzuhara stood up a little bit straighter than before, "Your reign of terror ends here, German Hellspawn Bitch from Hell!"

With that redundant battle cry, Toji did his thing. He banged his fists together and immediately surrounded himself in a green suit of armor reminiscent of the old samurai. His next act was to summon a battle-hammer three times as big as he was tall and with a cry, brought it down upon the orange haired girl.

The Hammer crashed down with a mighty roar, causing some of the students to scatter upon realizing how big this fight would be. However, the hammer had no effect because Asuka had blocked it with a single hand.

"Really Toji? You lead in with the same move as last time?" she taunted.

"Yep." grinned the youth.

Before Asuka could process why Toji was happy, a second battle hammer five times bigger than the previous one struck down upon the first, dealing a much bigger impact than before. Asuka was forced to block with both hands in order to remain unhurt. However as she did so, Toji created a green chain with a mace and swung at Asuka's left side as hard as she could.

The orange haired girl used her super speed to dodge the two hammers and the chain, going next to Toji and slamming her fist into his side, cracking the energy armor and the air around her.

Toji just laughed and brought his green empowered fist down on the surprised German, dealing the first real blow in the battle. Asuka scurried away a little bit- the blow had hurt her pride more than her cheek.

"Huh. So you got a little stronger." mused the Queen.

Indeed, Toji's AT field must have gotten a lot stronger, thought Hikari. It took a lot to withstand even the weakest of Asuka's blows and she looked serious when she nailed that punch. If Toji didn't feel a thing, then maybe he had a chance after all.

Hikari couldn't help but be a little envious of the boy. He had gotten such a great power in solid-energy constructs. It allowed him to create virtually anything provided he knew the structure of the object. Hypothetically Toji could create a working super computer if he knew all the parts- of course it would vanish as soon as the brown haired boy told it to, but still. The classroom representative subconsciously clutched her hands, wishing that once she awakened, her own power would be something equally awesome.

"Alright, let's get serious!" Toji summoned a giant broadsword and swung madly at his orange haired enemy in an effort to hit her. Asuka elected on her super speed to easily dodge the incoming strikes. Her eyes drifted back to the crowd of people, now further out.

"Don't look down on me!" Suddenly, a thirty by thirty meter cage erupted from the ground- Toji had been building it since the start of the battle. Asuka's speed could not keep up and she found herself trapped within the short haired boy's cage- although the man himself was inside his cage too.

"Now I gotcha." grinned the determined boy. He repeated the same droll tactic of swinging at Asuka with his sword, the hammer and whatever else he created, but once again the girl simply dodged all of his efforts. This continued until Asuka felt her back being pressed into a green wall, which wasn't there a moment ago.

Quickly assessing the situation, the girl realized that the cage was shrinking. Every ten seconds it shrank by one meter, meaning that within a few minutes her speed would be almost useless. Her opponent was trying to force her into a head on brawl, which would undoubtedly work in the invulnerable boy's favor.

Toji was actually using strategy. He must be really desperate to beat her.

She regarded the advancing boy, then smiled her usual, cocky grin. "Sadly, the solution is pretty simple."

Asuka punched the wall with all she had and the entire cage shattered upon impact. Green energy fragmented, then dissolved into nothing as Toji looked angrier than ever at the girl who ruined his 'foolproof' plan. The German girl eyed her Japanese counterpart with a grin of superiority, and that's when she saw him.

There he was, beside a tree and hidden among the crowd of people. She finally found him!

And then Toji punched her jaw and the world tumbled town along with her. Enraged at being dealt twice a pride wounding blow, Asuka summoned her full might. Flying into the air, she combined her super speed with her super strength to ram her track suited foe across the field in spite of his strong AT field. She quickly looked left-

He was gone. Disappeared as if he was never there to begin with.

"Whatever." Asuka muttered. Her open palms glowed red and flames seared across the skies until it hit Toji, pushing him back. This wasn't enough to make the boy relent, as he created several spike balls and hurled them at Asuka to no effect. The girl zoomed in with her speed and flight, while not relenting on the hot fire, finally ramming the energy constructor with a great force that could be felt even from the audience.

The green samurai armor cracked, dissolving, while the boy himself appeared to finally be hurt. Asuka gently floated down until her eye level was just above his, hovering over the ground. "That the best you've got!?" Toji challenged.

Asuka put all her strength into the next gut punch, realizing that would be the only way to defeat him at this level. She had last clocked her punching speed at around subsonic levels, while her strength had enabled her to lift five tons easily the last time she checked. The gut punch cracked the air, and was not only heard but _felt_ by every member of the audience.

Toji felt it too, and it hurt. The wind was knocked out of him, the last of his armor dissolved, and the boy collapsed, fainted on the floor.

Hikari solemnly nodded her head as some members of the audience let out a groan of disapproval. They had gotten their hopes up that the Queen would finally be defeated. Toji had definitely gotten way stronger since the last time they fought, but Asuka was still Asuka. In a world where most people got a single power, Asuka got _five_. Super strength, super speed, enhanced senses, flight and fire generation. Adding on to her large AT field which provided her with a high degree of invulnerability, the girl was nigh invincible.

The queen, deciding to put on a show, didn't walk but floated up to Kensuke Aida, "Give me a copy of the tape when you make it."

Then with dramatic gusto, the girl flew off into the sky. She wiped a tinge of blood from her face, grimacing at the reminder of her incompetence. Next time, she would do it perfectly. Toji wouldn't even land a single blow next time. That, she reasoned, would prove to her that she was the strongest thing in existence.

The girl excused herself for the second blow though, telling herself Toji had only hit her once. She had been distracted when she had finally seen him again.

"Next time, I'll track down 'The Invisible Boy', too." swore the perfectionist.

* * *

Misato Katsuragi merrily cooked a pot of who knows what while whistling a tune. After all these years, she had decided to take up cooking again because that was the feminine thing to do. Of course, the real impetus for this change in behavior was when she tried one of Shinji's meals last night and was blown away by the taste. She was _not_ going to be outdone by a mere high school boy.

The purple haired woman poured all of the spices she thought would be good with spaghetti into the pot then stirred like crazy, reasoning that the more energy she put into it, the better it would taste. Some parts of it blew up, but that just meant it was working. Her red haired penguin friend walked up to her, having smelled the concoction of whatever that Misato was brewing, giving a questioning "wark?"

"Oh, Pen-Pen!" Misato said cheerfully, "You'll taste test this spaghetti sauce for me, won't you?" she asked, holding up a spoonful.

The black and white animal had no idea what was in the spoon but it was decidedly not spaghetti sauce. He began to sweat, becoming fearful as he tried to put his beak as far away from the spoon as he could.

"What's wrong little guy?" asked his oblivious owner.

"W-Wark!" Pen-Pen barked, refusing to eat the spoon. Misato was insistent that he try it, but before the penguin could eat liquid doom he was saved by the sound of the woman's cellphone ringing. The woman groaned, letting Pen-Pen free from her clutches as she grasped her phone "Hello?"

 _"_ _Get Asuka and report back to command."_

Misato widened her eyes, then frowned a soft disapproval. The voice was unmistakably Gendo Ikari's. This was an oddity since the supreme commander of NERV never spoke personally, unless it was that urgent. The fact that this was a direct call from him could only mean one thing.

"It's happening, isn't it?"

 _"_ _Yes. Soon."_

Misato pursed her lips. She stared longingly at the food she was going to serve as dinner, realizing that Shinji would have to eat it alone. The woman mused that Shinji needed it as he was a growing boy, but this belayed the underlying truth of tonight's meal. This was the last meal she could cook for him. This was it. From here on out, everything would change.

"Understood." she replied. The phone hung up and Misato put it into her pocket. With a soft sigh, she calmly went into her room, a small cave that was littered with all sorts of various things. All of them were treasured memories, but most of them were empty beer cans. She had to push her way through the miscellaneous junk in order to finally reach her closet. With a simple eye scan, it opened, revealing a black suit of armor and a sword.

Within a few minutes, Misato had donned the armor and sheathed the sword upon her back. Her black armor was jagged and coarse, with spikes hutting out in the shoulders, elbows and knees. It covered her from head to toe and though it must have weighed a hundred pounds at least, she wore it as easily as clanking pajamas.

At that moment, Misato Katsuragi ceased to be. In her placed stood the strategic commander of NERV.

She clanked over to the front door, turning off the stove before doing so. The woman eyed Pen-Pen, who stared at her with an unknown expression. The purple haired commander grinned, "Tell Shinji I'll be out late."

* * *

Asuka liked her flying power most of all. Experiencing soaring through the skies was an unbelievable experience every time, the exhilaration making her forget her troubles. Sometimes though, she would just hover at length over the Tokyo-3 and relish in the tranquility of it all. Up here, no one, not even Toji, could ever hope to touch her. She was truly invincible in her sky domain, able to observe everything below but with no one to observe her.

Make no mistake, she enjoyed the attention that she got. She loved it when the NERV researchers gave her praise each time she astounded them with her abilities. She ravished the feeling of when boys ogled her from a distance, as if she didn't notice. Attention from others made her feel important, special. And indeed she was special- she was going to save the whole world one day.

But sometimes, even she wanted some quiet. Up here, it was peaceful. Peace was good, sometimes.

Unfortunately her peace was disrupted when, as her super senses indicated, down in the city three men forced a woman into an alleyway. Asuka knew that these events never ended well for the women, so she flew down. The girl hovered just a few dozen meters above the situation, just to confirm what she was witnessing.

"N-No, please! I don't have any money!" said the woman, her eyes darting between the three men who had cornered her and her environment to look for an escape.

"Well boys, I think she'll have to pay us some other way." One of the men began to lick his lips.

Asuka cracked her knuckles, floating down further.

The woman shouted, "Someone please save-!"

That was as far as she got before she vanished. There was no light or sound, one moment she was there, and in the next instant she was gone. The three would-be criminals blinked a couple of times to make sure what they saw just happened. Even Asuka was a little stunned.

"H-Hey! What the hell, where did she go?" asked one of the men.

And then the three men were gone just as the woman was. Asuka realized what was happening and strained her senses to locate all four people- the woman was the first and easiest. She was now in a shopping mall surrounded by people, confusedly asking what had happened to the three men who were after her. As for the bad guys, they were trickier to find but eventually Asuka heard them inside the police station, inside three separate cells, screaming to the confused guards.

There was no longer any doubt. This was his work.

She maxed out her senses to the highest degree, intending to do the impossible. Soaring through the sky at just below sonic speed while keeping her hearing and eyesight on high, Asuka looked for him. After a minute of this her efforts were rewarded. He was somehow several hundred meters away from the sight, but Asuka had tracked him down.

Without hesitation, she zoomed away and landed right in front of the boy, startling him so much that he fell down.

"You." said Asuka accusingly.

He was a rather plain looking brown haired boy, around her own age. Even at this hour he wore the school uniform, black pants, white shirt, red tie, but as usual he was draped in a tattered heavy black cloak with a hoodie. The hoodie once concealed his face but thanks to Asuka's wind pressure, it was blown off to revealing his mystifying purple eyes. This boy was creepy in every sense of the word, dress, eye color, mannerisms, the list went on. His entire being was a mystery.

"A-Asuka? You scared me…" he whined, getting back up.

"I finally tracked you down." smiled Asuka in triumph, proud of her achievement "The 'Invisible Boy' of Tokyo-3 High School!"

The brown haired boy looked downward to avoid meeting her gaze. Asuka frowned at this; he was just as spineless as the last time they met.

"Hey, look at me when I'm talking to you!" she snapped. The brown haired boy obeyed and met her line of sight, a confused look in his eyes. The orange haired girl almost let out a sigh at how passive and meek the guy was.

"…you were the one who helped that woman, right?" the girl said in a more gentle tone. The boy fidgeted nervously, an indication that Asuka's deduction was spot on. He said in a small voice, "You saw that, huh…?"

She studied him extensively. Out of everyone she had ever met, this was the one person whom she couldn't figure out. At first glance he was nothing but a coward, so scared of everyone that he never showed up for class except to take the tests. But the orange haired super had figured out that there were multiple reports of people being in danger who had suddenly been warped somewhere else. Unlucky criminals who wound up in a prison cell without knowing how they got there.

She knew that it was his doing. She just couldn't figure out how.

Everyone knew he had an ability, but not even the teachers knew what it was. Whenever someone tried to drag him away to NERV and test him, the boy would simply escape from their grasp. It didn't matter what they tried to do, he always managed to run away no matter the odds. Many suspected it was some sort of teleportation power, but then again there were those incidents where people suddenly stopped moving…

Such was the Invisible Boy, whom no one ever saw nor spoke to. His power was unknown. His origin was unknown. His motives were equally unknown. And that was why she was here; If Asuka solved the mystery of who he was and where he came from, she would be lauded by her peers for doing what her teachers and the NERV agency could not.

"Um, did you want something?" asked the short haired boy, nervous.

The girl regarded him, thinking of the best way to appeal to this shy teenager. After some deliberation she chose to ask him an honest question. "…You save people, but never stick around long enough for them to thank you. Why?"

The boy looked at her with a somber expression "I don't like people." he said simply.

"Then why save them?" asked Asuka immediately.

"…" The boy looked downwards, as if he too was as confused as she was. "…I don't know."

The orange haired girl subtly bit her lip. She had never met someone so anti-social before. Typically the male gender was so easy for her to get talking thanks to her looks, but so far it was ineffective on this guy. Already, it seemed as though he was trying to retreat from her, posturing subtly to the side to create an inch of distance between them.

Finally, Asuka smiled, "You don't seem like such a bad guy. You know, if you joined NERV like I did, you could probably save more people. Maybe even help prevent that apocalypse that's coming."

The brown haired boy drew a breath and stopped, hesitant. For the first time, he looked at her sincerely, allowing Asuka to bathe in his deep purple eyes, full of what appeared to be fear, sorrow and something else. "… Thanks, but no. I really don't like people. And… I'm not brave, like you are."

He then gave an awkward smile, "I've seen you. You aren't afraid of anything… but I can't do that. I'm a nobody."

This time the orange haired super drew a breath. She felt like she could visibly see the boy battling his inner demons, like just a further peek and his entire heart would be hers to witness. She was so close to discovering who he was, so close to the solving the mystery and the looks of shock she would gain from her peers.

"But, you probably have a really powerful ability, right?" she pushed.

"No." replied the boy remorsefully, staring into the sky, "My power's only good for running away."

And then he was gone. Vanished without a trace and try as she might, Asuka could not track him anymore. The girl was visibly frustrated, she had been so close to getting something out of him, only to have him slip away like he always did.

Shinji Sekai. The boy was a coward to be sure, so spineless he could be classified as an invertebrate. And yet… it seemed like he did have a heart, as he proved today from saving that woman. This was odd, since if he really didn't like people, why save them? Moreover, Asuka couldn't fathom why Shinji wouldn't want anyone to know about the good acts he was doing. Not wanting that kind of positive attention was an alien notion to the girl.

Well, she supposed he had his own issues to work out. If she saw him again, she'd act friendly and try to pry open the secret of his power.

The super girl was about to fly off when she heard a voice calling her name. She turned around, seeing a black armored woman speeding towards her in a banged up blue car. The vehicle lurched beside her, and the purple haired driver poked her head out "Asuka, right? Name's Misato Katsuragi, the strategic commander of NERV!"

Asuka wondered whether or not this was a prank before the woman flashed her badge, revealing her authenticity "Anyway I was just wondering if you'd help us save the world?"

The girl grinned. The moment he had been waiting for finally arrived. While everyone on the planet dreaded the fateful day, for Asuka it was the moment of opportunity. The end of the world had finally come, and she couldn't wait for it to start.

"Yes." she said with the utmost confidence, "It's time for the so-called apocalypse, right? Well I'm your girl. I'll beat whatever comes my way until not even atoms remain!"

As soon as she said these words, a section of Tokyo-3 blew up. Its perpetrator was a hulking figure, who had just entered this plane of existence.

* * *

The being had been [MATERIALIZED/BORN] just a few seconds ago, but it had already known its mission. Just as it popped into the localized space-time, it fired one of its destructive blasts at a random section of the city, scattering the Lillin. It was displeased to find that not many Lillin were killed by its initial attack. Not because the being didn't try hard enough, but because most of them were gone.

Confusing.

 _"Sachiel, have you [AWOKEN/BECOME/MATERIALIZED]?"_ asked a voice in his head. Sachiel blinked its black eyes, remembering the situation fully, and who this voice was.

 **"I HAVE. THE LILLIN HAVE HIDDEN THEMSELVES FROM ME. DID THEY FORSEE MY COMING?"**

 _"Yes. The Lillin have acquired the [INDECIPHERABLE], allowing them to partially predict when we will [ARISE/BECOME/EXIST]."_ the voice replied back, _"It is unfortunate, but we will have our work cut out for us."_

 **"I SEE"** the massive being continued the conversation, **"SO THE LILLIN HAVE PREPARED FOR US. IS THERE ANYTHING I MUST KNOW BEFORE CONTINUING MY ATTACK?"**

 _"I cannot [LOCATE/UNDERSTAND/COMMUNICATE WITH] the body, but I know it to be in the NERV fortress, somewhere below."_ said the voice, giving Sachiel an image of the outside of the NERV base, _"The Lillin have prepared their forces to stop us from getting there. There are… certain [ANOMALIES] that have arisen while you were [ASLEEP/NOT BEING]. They are, in some ways, [CONGRUENT/SIMILAR] to us. They cannot be underestimated."_

 **"NO MATTER."** remarked Sachiel somewhat haughtily, **"THE WILL OF ADAM SHALL BE FULFILLED REGARDLESS OF THE LILLIN'S WISHES. I [UNDERSTAND/COMPREHEND] YOUR CONCERN BUT REST ASSURED, NO [ANOMALY/MOCKERY] WILL DEFEAT ME."**

 _"I should hope so. Good luck with your mission, Sachiel."_

The entire conversation took place in less than ten seconds, by which time the Lillin fortress in which the creature had foreseen began firing things at him. They were metallic in nature, cylindrical in shape and detonated in a tiny explosion upon contact. The projectiles were only a visual annoyance, harmlessly bouncing off Sachiel's [SOUL/EXISTENCE]. Luckily, these annoying metal things did provide Sachiel with the location of NERV's headquarters, so it began to stomp its way over to that location, undeterred by whatever it was the Lillin were trying to kill it with.

* * *

"The hell!" cursed one of the generals, painfully watching as their best missiles did absolutely jack to monster that steadily approached them. He was surrounded by equally mad, equally scared high ranking officials from the Japanese Self Defense Force, each seated in a row, eyes glued to the massive monitor.

The NERV command center was spacious, computers and monitors on every wall with a central large screen in the center to depict the most important things. Staff busily hurried about, predicting the next set of numbers, reporting damages, operating the complex machinery and brewing Gendo a mean cup of coffee.

Said assistant gave Gendo Ikari the black liquid, and he drank from it as a gentleman, holding it in one hand and subtly sipping the liquid without a sound. The bearded man was dressed in a creepy looking dark grey suit that somehow did and did not resemble anything military, his usual white gloves placed together as in a tent, and reddish orange glasses from which he judged. He was on the uppermost part of the bridge, observing the pawns down below with the gaze of a chess master.

Gendo watched the spectacle down below with a sense of amusement. The Japanese military had insisted they first try their cute little weaponry against the first Angel so as to save face with their country. Now these brave men and women, who had come into the office hours earlier gloating on how they could easily defeat the upcoming monstrosity were panicked, haggard and looking up at both the Angel and the supreme commander with eyes filled with rage.

To this, the supreme commander regarded one of them with an imaginary toast with the coffee mug in his hand. It was a rare moment for him to make their idiocy known to themselves, so he would relish the chance. He got a few mean looks for his action.

The elevator behind him opened up, revealing a silver haired, aged man who looked to be Gendo's senior by some decades. Dressed in a purple suit without wrinkles, a badge of NERV on his right chest, the man carried himself with a humble dignity as he approached Gendo.

"How goes the attack?" wondered the deputy commander of NERV, as if he didn't know the answer to his question.

"The monkey show proves as fruitless as predicted." said Gendo in a voice that was slightly loud enough for the military suits below him to hear. Some of them did, but ignored the NERV commander and barked more orders to their people. Seeing as how that didn't deter them, the man continued in a slightly louder voice than that "But don't worry, Fuyutsuki. Perhaps, eventually, one of these missiles might break through the Angel's AT Field, which may cause a bit of damage. With luck."

One of the generals, a silver haired senior who yearned for the undefinable time period known as 'the good old days', turned around at this comment, "You want to say something, Ikari!?"

"Cease this useless barrage and let NERV handle the Angel." The supreme commander of NERV stated the obvious. The general did not take kindly to that. Being bossed around by someone half his age who hadn't even served in a real war was a humiliation. Angry at the unpleasantness of the situation, he turned back around to his desk, reached for his mike and shouted angrily, "Fire the goddamn N2 mine!"

Gendo's glasses tilted up at that. The man turned to his trusty Kozo Fuyutsuki, asking if the evacuations of Tokyo-3 were completed. The deputy commander replied that while some casualties had happened, most everyone was in one of the many shelters decorated around the city. "Good." Gendo relaxed just a little, "At least the mine won't hurt anything."

Every member of the Japanese military heard that comment and grimaced, vowing to get Ikari fired.

* * *

Asuka turned towards the sound of the explosion, her confidence decreasing with every centimeter of her turn. She saw red flames rise from the silver city, the metal melting from the sudden increase in temperature. Buildings collapsed and lives were ended in but an instant. She should know, with her enhanced sense she saw the wisp of life fading from more than few people.

She beheld the form of their destructor. A one hundred meter tall humanoid, black but covered with skeletal white bone. The bones covered its shoulders, ribcage and thighs, and the white bone created a mask around its face- or was that actually its face? The abomination was broad shouldered but with slender limbs, long arms and a giant hook nose. Its visage resembled the humans it tried to kill, but it was decidedly not human. It was otherworldly. Unnerving, in fact. Asuka couldn't put it into words but this thing's form was just **wrong**.

Not too long after it appeared, the military acted by firing several dozen missiles at the thing, which bounced off some sort of barrier it possessed, dealing no damage. Instead, the thing fired another blast at the base of the firing, destroying an entire military complex with a single blow. It then began to walk in that direction with footsteps that could be heard from where she was.

Asuka allowed herself a tiny gulp, now knowing the responsibility she had undertaken.

"Oh crapbaskets." Misato cursed from behind her, "It's already here! Get in the car, Asuka!"

The girl was too dumbfounded to put up a reaction, going into the blue car and buckling herself in. The strategic commander then put her lead foot on the gas pedal and all hell broke loose.

Misato's car ran away three times faster than the speed limit, causing even Asuka to buckle down. Down the highway, ignoring any and all signs Misato rode her vehicle like a bat out of hell. Left and right she swerved to avoid the cars, finally turning to break through a concrete wall so that her car leapt from their higher platform onto another rode, where the purple driver handled the car until it bent to her whims, forcing it to progress forward without delay.

"Wh-Why are we going towards that thing!?" Asuka spoke up, fingers clawed into the seat from fear of Misato's driving.

"We aren't! We're heading towards the headquarters- which I guess is where the Angel is headed too…" Misato trailed off, remembering that during the briefing they had said that would likely happen. She suddenly gasped when a deflected missile landed right in front of them, but kept her driving cool and sped around it, the trees, and into an abandoned park. It was a shortcut.

Past the park, Misato raced through the Tokyo-3, getting closer to the beast as well as NERV headquarters. As they did, Asuka heard something plop onto their car. She figured it was just debris, until it started to claw the roof away. The metal roof was ripped open by a pair of clawed hands, which screeched in delight. It looked like a miniature version of the giant monster: white mask, black body, bony armor, but only around a meter tall. It lunged at Asuka but before it could lay even a finger on her, something cleaved it in half.

That thing was too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy and too rough. It was more like a large hunk of iron, yet Misato wielded it with absolute ease, destroying their would-be alien assailant with one stroke "Shit, it can do that!?" shouted the strategic commander. Asuka wondered the same thing about Misato.

Turning back to look at the road, Misato found the answer to her question. Yes, yes it could. Many times, in fact. Multiple small copies of the Angel flooded the streets and wreaked havoc upon the populace. An entire army of them awaited the girls, blocking their path to the HQ. A grin spread across the black swordswoman's face: "Asuka, hold on!"

The poor girl was so naïve in thinking that what she had witness thus far was Misato driving a car. She was soon corrected.

Misato lurched with expert and suicidal precision around each and every one of the beast's spawn- cutting anything else that she couldn't avoid by swinging her sword out the window. When the wall of flesh became too thick to reasonably penetrate, the crazy woman elected to crash into a building in order to avoid them. Inside the building- a shopping mall to be exact- Misato continued to never touch the brake pedal, speeding up an escalator onto the next floor, where she was met with more of the things.

Grinning like the maniac she was, Misato put the car into auto, broke the glass windshield and leapt onto the front of her blue car, sticking her armored soles into it for balance. From there she easily chopped, sliced and diced all of the creatures that came her way. Blood rained upon the store and car, painting the place a bright red as the slaughter showed no signs of stopping, until the wall came that is.

"MISATO!" Asuka pointed ahead, a wall and a large glass window the only thing ahead. They had two seconds before they hit it.

"Don't worry about me, I'm a professional!" was the last thing Misato said before they crashed through brick and cement. The armored woman covered herself with her sword, which was long as she was tall, to prevent the glass shards from hurting her. She retained this posture as the car flew through the air, arcing into a parking garage this time.

Misato sheathed her sword and went back into the driver's position, shifting gears until she was once again in control of her car, going full throttle up the levels of the garage. Eventually and at last, they arrived at the thirteenth and last floor, where Misato graciously stopped the car. Asuka breathed.

They looked around. NERV headquarters was just in sight a few kilometers away. The Angel was actually now far behind them, still steadily stomping over to their destination.

Misato regarded the situation, gazing into the sky. "Asuka, how strong are you?"

The orange haired girl blinked a few times, still shaken from what she has just seen. "S-Strong? Yeah, I'm super strong."

"Like, strong enough to lift a car?"

"…yeah? Easily."

"Awesome. Get one of those cars and hurry back over here." said Misato hurriedly, pointing to several abandoned cars at the top level.

"W-Why?"

"Because THAT." Misato pointed upwards to a recently launched missile, shining suspiciously in the air. The strategic commander of NERV identified it as an N2 mine "Hurry!"

Asuka looked up in horror at the nuclear weapon by any other name and quickly grabbed one of the red cars over her head. As per the purple haired major's instructions, the super strong girl lifted that car on top of the first car, rooting her arms in the second car while her legs were rooted in the first. "But why?"

"I need to get you to NERV in one piece, not a scratch on your body!" Misato replied, opening the trunk of the blue car and putting what appeared to be a jet engine on the back of her bumper. Telling Asuka to hold on, the black armored woman strapped herself in and pushed what looked like a detonator in her hand.

The rocket powered booster that Ritsuko gave her roared to life and the car launched forward with a burst of speed despite now having another car on top of it. The flame propelled car flew straight into the air as if it were a clunky bird. In mid-flight as the rocket continued to fly, the armored woman took her giant slab of a sword and began to cut at the base of the car until an opening was admitted. Roaring, she told the super powered girl to use her fire powers to meld the first car with the second, which was accomplished rather easily.

Misato grabbed Asuka and fell through the hole in the car, clinging on for dear life by grabbing the edge with the other hand holding her escort close. Using her sword once again, Misato stabbed the car in order to properly orient it so that there were now two cars in between them and the bomb. Screaming at Asuka to guard herself, the N2 mine detonated. The nuclear explosion was total, but it was at some distance from where they were; Misato had been counting on it.

The blast shook the melded cars, propelling them further and faster into the air while the metal of the vehicles shielded the two women from the worst of the impact. Heat from the explosion began to melt the twin cars, slowly depriving the girl of their precious barrier against the explosion. Yet the energy of the blast made them ride further into the skies away from the impact site. The cars melted, the wind pressure drowned out their screams, but after a few horrid seconds at last, they crashed through something and landed on solid ground, making a small dent into the otherwise pristine metal floor. The chaos ceased.

It was only now that the orange haired girl dared open her eyes. She saw a giant command center, filled with shocked faces, especially from the Japanese military. Everyone had stopped whatever they were doing to gape at the newcomers. Misato was the first one who stood up. She looked at the remainder of the car she had latched onto- now a broken fragment no bigger than her head- and discarded it.

The black swordswoman turned to the staff of NERV, saluted and reported. "Major Katsuragi, here to deliver Asuka L. Soryuu!"

Gaped faces lined the entire room, unable to speak. The only person who could find his voice was Gendo Ikari, who regarded the fact that Misato just used an N2 mine to get herself to NERV quicker with a simple phrase: "You're late."

The strategic commander huffed, "Only by like, two minutes!"

"Late is late." said the supreme commander dryly. Seeing as how they were late, he ordered Misato to get Asuka prepared as soon as possible. They had to sortie in less than ten minutes before the Angel breached their first barrier.

"Gendo, that thing was just hit with an N2 mine!" one of the military suits pointed out, "There's no way it can come out unscathed!"

* * *

Sachiel had felt that last one a little bit. But, he regenerated the damage and went on towards his destination. No harm, no foul. **"THEIR METAL ROD WEAPONS ARE ODD."** the creature remarked to itself.

* * *

"Son of a-!" cursed the general, at a loss for words as to how their strongest weapon didn't even dent the monstrosity. This was, finally, the point of defeat for the monkeys who ran the monkey show. Gendo Ikari stood up and formally renounced the capacity of the Japanese military, decreeing that from now on they would use NERV's strategy instead.

Most of the generals submitted. One tried to raise a final objection, to save a little face of the proud Japanese nation. As soon as his words came out, he found that he was being choked by an invisible force. They all saw the NERV supreme commander looking at the insurgent with his blood red eyes and a raised finger pointed at him. The veins in his body were clearly visible, a sign that Gendo was using his ability.

"May I remind you that we are trying to prevent the Third Impact from happening?" Gendo hissed, his words reverberating throughout the command center, his pronounced canines making him look all the more sinister "Failure means extinction, and I have been more than lenient with giving you an opportunity at dealing with the problem. You did not. Therefore, **_I_** will."

With a snap of his fingers, the military man fainted. Gendo turned back to Misato and Asuka, who were awestruck, "Did I not tell you to get ready?"

Misato took the chosen child by the cuff and went into an elevator in a hurry. As she selected a floor five levels lower than where they were, the purple haired girl breathed a sigh of relief "Man, Gendo's really mad. Let's get that Angel defeated quickly, else we'll have to face him next!" she half joked.

Asuka was still bewildered by the events that had taken place thus far. A monster appeared, a crazy driver had taken her to NERV, they had got caught in an explosion, survived thanks to either tactical genius or sheer luck and then it turned out the commander of NERV was a person with super powers. Also, she was probably going to fight the monster. That inhuman thing that could destroy sections of cities with its beam attack, a titan that could produce a shield which even an N2 mine couldn't penetrate. Suffice it to say, the odds were not in their favor.

"Hey," Misato gave her a warm look, brushing some dust off her shoulder, "You can do it. And you won't be alone, either."

It was a simple comment but it gave Asuka some much needed resolve. As the elevator went down its shaft, the black swordswoman began to brief the newly hired girl on what she needed to know.

The monster that had attacked was dubbed an Angel. There were several Angels that would appear, and this was the first one: Sachiel. The Angel's goal was to reach NERV and trigger Third Impact. The Second Impact that had occurred twenty years ago destroyed about 30% of the world, but the scientists at NERV believed that the Third Impact would finish the rest of it. It would be an explosion of space, time, material and immaterial that would eradicate the existence of planet Earth.

That's where NERV came in. It was an organization created to study and develop defenses for the Angels to prevent the apocalypse. NERV had learned that all Angel's possess what is called an AT field-the same thing that lurked within superpowered individuals, only much bigger. Although the field was not well understood, it was a known fact that AT fields can defy the laws of physics and warp bits and pieces of reality to the user's whims. The AT field was impenetrable to almost any attack, which is why they needed super powered individuals and unordinary weaponry to fight it.

Asuka, who had passed every test in NERV, was one such individual. She was suited to fight the Angel along with the organization and all of its resources. Ritsuko, head of R&D, predicted that there was a 99% of both her and Rei succeeding in subduing the first Angel.

"Wait, who's Rei?" the girl asked upon hearing the name. All of those tests at NERV, yet she had never heard of this one before. Misato explained that Rei was going to be the other person sent to fight the Angel; her existence was only just recently declassified. The purple haired woman hesitated to elaborate on Rei's origin, instead calling her a very unique girl.

The next question from Asuka was obvious from her own standpoint: "Is she stronger than me?"

At once, Misato saw that a sense of desperation and validation was reflected in Asuka's crystalline blue eyes. She blinked, surprised, but answered honestly "I can only say that Gendo thinks she's the strongest super alive. Beyond that, I don't know."

This was what got Asuka fired up more than the reassuring nudge. The orange haired girl reflected and silently felt her powers, all five of them. At that moment Asuka vowed to make the commander see the error of his ways. Whoever this Rei was, she wasn't going to be the hero of this story. It was going to be her instead.

No one was stronger than she was.

* * *

Rei Ayanami finished putting on her suit. Her short blue hair, red eyes and pale complexion gave her a sort of otherworldly appearance, especially with her constantly stoic facial expressions. She was a cute girl, but her people skills needed a lot of work. It was as if she was a robot, mechanically acting the way her superiors told her to. When told she would fight a giant monster bent on world destruction, the girl did not hesitate to begin the mission.

The suit she had just put on was primarily dark blue like the deep sea with yellow glowing lines in certain positions. The lines ran along her thighs, across her shoulders and arms, along her back, waist and just below her chest, dividing her nearly black suit into compartments. Notably, she was wearing fingerless white gloves that attached to her wrists. It had been an odd request to add gloves to the suit design, but honestly Ritsuko was just happy that the young girl was beginning have wants, so she allowed the order to pass.

Ritsuko Akagi, head of Research and Development at NERV headquarters, watched the various monitors connected to her headset, which relayed many numbers that only people with PHD's in biophysics and metaphysics could understand. The important part was that the numbers looked good.

"No issues with the suit." The blonde haired woman turned off her headset, having seen enough. She was dressed in the most stereotypical scientist outfit one could imagine: Plain maroon shirt, boring black skirt and a giant billowing lab coat with too many pockets and all filled with various science-things. She did, however, allowed herself a semblance of dress choice with fishnet stockings and high heels for the bottom half of her torso. "You're good to go, Rei."

Rei Ayanami, the so called greatest super on planet Earth, silently nodded at the head of R&D. Without another word, she walked to her left, intending to take the door that lead to the front of the base, where the Angel was advancing. Ritsuko stopped her for an instant.

"Rei." she said, causing the blue haired girl to stop "Rei… good luck." The words that she needed to tell this child could not be expressed here and now. One day, maybe they could say what needed to be said, but not right now.

The blue haired girl nodded her head again. She opened the door but before she left, the girl had one last thing to say.

"Thank you for the gloves, doctor Akagi. They will surely bring me good fortune."

The sliding door closed and the girl was gone. At some level Ritsuko felt guilty that they had to send children to fight the greatest enemies of mankind. However, the scientist within her made a sickening rationalization for her: They had no other choice. Children born after Second Impact were simply more suited than the older generations to fight the Angels. They were simply more powerful with better abilities and that was that.

Rei, being the strongest of all, was therefore the most suited. It was only logical.

But Ritsuko would be damned if she let an innocent girl experience all this fighting while being denied all of the pleasure of victory. She didn't care how much Gendo disagreed with her opinion, Rei deserved a normal life after this was all over. And she was going to make the bearded vampire submit, one way or another.

She had already forced his hand once by 'accidentally' leaking classified documents about the blue haired super to the public. She could pull off something else.

"Doctor Akagi!" a new voice entered the area, belonging to Maya Ibuki. As an assistant to the famed Doctor, she wore a tidy and clean uniform, white stockings and to match her superior, a white lab coat with too many pockets. Hers was more form fitting however, unlike the bulky thing the doctor wore. She reached Ritsuko and continued, "The commander says that Major Katsuragi has returned with the Second Child, Asuka Soryuu. He also said he's about to turn the MAGI up to maximum power."

Ritsuko sighed "Another child to fight for us?"

Maya hesitated, but the doctor held up a single hand "Don't say a word. I know." The blonde haired scientist gave a lengthy pause in contemplation before walking towards an elevator cylinder "Asuka's suit is in room 503. I'm heading up to interface with the computers."

Ritsuko took the elevator without another word. Maya with pursed lips, decided to go the opposite direction to inform Asuka and the commander of the news. It always seemed like Ritsuko wanted to say something more each time they met, but the words went unspoken. One day, maybe they could say what needed to be said, but not right now.

Maya ran towards one of the doors in the laboratory, exiting into hall 31, turning into hall 33, and verily meeting with strategic commander Misato, already dressed for battle in that black armor of hers. The major merrily handed Asuka off to Maya, then ran in the other direction to get back to the bridge.

"Asuka, you remember me right? I'm doctor Ritsuko's assistant."

"Of course, Maya." smiled Asuka. They had met a couple times during testing, mostly when Doctor Akagi wasn't available and Maya had to run the experiments instead "You guys really made a suit like I wanted, right?"

"Yes. Please, this way." Maya smiled. She led Asuka through a maze of hallways, corridors and elevators before reaching the fifth floor, room 503. It was a simple locker room stationed next to the other locker rooms. Maya told Asuka that her suit was inside, and the girl gleefully walked in the room to change.

Sure enough, a large box lay on a bench right near the middle of the room. The orange haired German opened it like a Christmas present, grinning at what she saw.

One minute later, Asuka stepped out of the locker room clad in her own official outfit. Long, sleek grey gloves decorate both of her hands while equally exaggerated grey boots with yellow trimmings covered her feet. The primary color of the form fitting outfit was red, but with some green lines to break up the sections of her body. The suit covered her head-to-toe up until her neck.

Her vibrant orange hair flowed freely, undeterred by the usual ponytail know she placed in her hair. Instead twin headpieces sat on the crown of her head, these were both speakers and transmitters directly linked to the command center. The entire outfit was made fireproof, shock resistant, pierce resistant and bunch of other resistances that Asuka couldn't care about at the moment. The suit was skintight, showing off her well-developed body but not enough for Asuka to feel inappropriate. In addition, the tightness of it all meant little drag would be produced while flying, which was a bonus. What would create some drag was her green cape, connected to her choker. The girl had insisted upon wearing a cape regardless of how functionally useless it was.

All and all, Maya noted, she looked almost like one of those American superheroes. Asuka for her part gained ~300% more confidence and strutted around like she owned the place. But the superhero was a good girl and paused to tell Maya that Ritsuko exceeded her expectations. Maya silently giggled at how happy the girl was. Most parts of the costume were unneeded flair, but the girl was having so much fun that the assistant didn't bring it up.

 _"Is Asuka ready?"_ Gendo's sudden voice from the loudspeaker made the brown haired assistant jump. She replied "Yes, she's ready…" the girl turned towards the super empowered girl, who flashed a grin and nodded eagerly.

 _"Then get her to platform 3. We will link up with her headpiece and give her further instructions."_ The supreme commander of NERV hung up abruptly, like he always did. Maya nodded towards Asuka, and the two began to race towards platform three. It was time to see if the suit could withstand an Angel attack.

* * *

Ritsuko Akagi arrived at the MAGI in no time. She wished it could have taken more time, as this was the part of her job that she hated the most.

Three massive supercomputers, taking up enough space to fill a whole house, occupied the majority of the room. They were spaced evenly in a triangular fashion. Cylindrical in shape, they offered very few buttons or blinking lights. Many a trainee had gazed upon these powerful machines and were unable to comprehend why there were no notable parts to their design: just plain, black cylinders.

The answer was because unlike in movies and television, few buttons and lights were required to operate them. This, Ritsuko had to assure them each and every time, was how a real quantum computer looked.

Written in steel were the names of these divine machines: Casper, Balthasar and Melchior. The only three quantum computers in the world, and all the power that entailed. Traditional computers were too linear, slow and inefficient for taking on beasts as mighty as the Angels. Computational power on a quantum level on the other hand, was like taking a partial gaze into omniscience. The MAGI were exponential, not linear. Every calculation that they made could compute another calculation, ad infinatum, until it had calculated every single numerical value about a subject or event.

The MAGI could accurately predict how many electrons were in a glass of water AND give their positions at any point in time. They could monitor every single communication between every person in Tokyo-3 and parse the data into useful models. They could probably do it for all of Japan too, but that was illegal at the moment.

From the creation of new materials thought impossible to produce, reading texts in a millennium old dead language and examining AT fields both of Angels and humans, the MAGI were an indispensable tool in NERV's arsenal.

Unfortunately there was a problem. The MAGI could compute yobibytes of information every second, and the average human didn't even know that a yobibyte existed, much less how to examine all that data and draw conclusions from it.

That was where Ritsuko came in.

The blonde woman removed her coat and then her shirt, exposing three metal circles lined on her back. With a simple thought command, three silver discs swung outward revealing the holes that they covered, mechanical in nature that stretched to her spinal cord. She went and sat in the solitary metal chair in the center of the three MAGI and pressed a few commands without looking.

First, three tubes rose up from the floor and automatically inserted themselves into Ritsuko's cavities. With a simple click, they locked into place. Then, the woman's fingers fragmented to reveal innumerable wires that connected to the armchair's rest. Next, a massive mechanical bowl came down, also connected to various wires, and attached itself to the scientists head. The first time she did this, she imagined that this was what astronauts felt like. The bowl covered her eyes, fitting snugly around her head. Ritsuko's ears, forehead and back head produced tiny screws which met tiny slots on the bowl to secure her in place.

Finally, once the machines had confirmed that Ritsuko Akagi was safely linked up, the MAGI were allowed to release their restraints and begin calculations at impossible speeds that no human could hope follow. Luckily for all of them, Doctor Akagi was only about 39.2% human.

 _"I'm linked up."_ Ritsuko's voice echoed throughout the command center. Gendo and Fuyutsuki nodded their heads. The bearded man asked "What do you know?"

 _"The Angel's AT field has no holes, it will reach the first barrier in 10.67 seconds. So far it has no notable weaknesses. I'm taking over the missile system, if one of the girls manages to break into the AT field I might be able to fire some._

mommy loves you

Ritsuko heard that damn voice in her head. She gritted her teeth and willed the glitch away. _"Our odds of success are currently calculated to be 92.3%. However considering that this is the first Angel, take this notation with a grain of salt."_

"I see. Continue to monitor the situation and act as you please." said Gendo in the Gendo pose, remaining as unnaturally calm as ever. Fuyutsuki often wondered how he did it. He also wondered how he could remain so calm in the face of their impending doom, a masked behemoth with powers beyond their understanding. Making it was just because he had faith in the ever scheming commander of NERV.

He wondered what Gendo had faith in.

"Let the games begin." mused the bearded commander.

* * *

Sachiel had walked into the innermost section of the city, where his target NERV was located. So far everything had gone good, and the Lillin, perhaps in what little wisdom they had, stopped firing their odd metal rods long ago to allow him advance unimpeded.

He suddenly reached a barrier that defied him to go any further. Electromagnetic in nature, it repulsed the beast back. But this was of no concern, he just had to apply a little bit of [POWER/EXISTENCE/DOMINATION] into it and the defense would crack.

It never got around to doing that though, as from behind emerged a blue haired girl in a dark suit that glowed yellow. The only reason Sachiel noticed her was because her [SOUL/EXISTENCE] was much more radiant than that of the other Lillin, allowing him to better [PERCEIVE/UNDERSTAND] it.

Sachiel blinked at this female Lillim, wondering what a lone member of their species hoped to accomplish.

The diminutive girl gathered her power and in a flash of lightning, transformed into something completely different. Now meeting his gaze at eye level, the now massive Lillin growled a primordial sound that even resonated through the ether. A warning.

Sachiel was amused. **"SO THIS IS WHAT YOU MEANT BY [CONGRUENT/SIMILAR]. HOW INTERESTING."** The Angel summoned twin swords of light in each of his hands and prepared to kill the strange Lillim.


	2. New Reality II

Despite all of the chaos surrounding the first Angel's attack, Shinji made it home without a scratch on his body. This was to be expected; no one was better at running away than he was.

The brown haired boy arrived at the house as if it was any other day. He opened the door, locked it as he got in and witnessed the drab, wooden space he had become so accustomed to. A new sight this day though: Misato had attempted cooking. Shinji walked over to the pot, looked inside and gagged when the unfathomably bad stench met his nostrils. He closed the pot in a hurry and wondered if he could safely dump it into the outside trash can, or if that would constitute as a biohazard.

As he debated this, Shinji noticed a simple sticky note taped to the pot: _Shinji, eat up! Dinner's on me tonight ; )_ . Even though the pot was filled with noxious chemicals, the boy faintly smiled that Misato cared enough to try and cook for him. She was the only one who truly cared for him. The only human alive whom he could trust. Ever since that day ten years ago, Misato had done more for him than he could possibly repay.

Shinji sat down on their musty couch and played the message on his phone again.

 _"_ _Hey Shinji~! I hope you had a good time at school! Seems like the day finally arrived… giant monsters will be attacking Tokyo-3 soon, so I gotta do my job and beat them. Heh, hopefully this'll be over soon so I can eat you're cooking again!_

 _"… listen, Shinji. I know you don't think so, but your power can really be used to help people. You're stronger than you realize, so if you want to help us beat the Angels… then we'll be happy to accept you. I mean it. But if not, then please just be safe and I'll be back tomorrow._

 _"…Love you. Bye."_

The black cloaked haired boy had played that message at least five times already. He was nervous, anxious and above all, scared. Misato was the only one he had left. If the Angel made it to the headquarters…

But as much as he wanted to help, he knew he couldn't do a thing. Crippling fear overtook him every time he tried to step out of the house. He would be a kid going up against a monster of eldritch proportions, a beast that could end the entirety of humanity. When he saw the unnatural skull-like face of the hulking Angel, the only thing he could think of was running away from it.

And so he did. And now he was safe.

But Misato wasn't.

At this thought, Shinji gritted his teeth, angry at himself. He was pathetic, a spineless sniveling coward who couldn't even look a pretty girl in the eyes. Why couldn't he be brave like Misato? Why couldn't he be strong like Asuka? He wanted to be great like them, but in the end, Shinji knew for a fact that he could never hope to rise above his own pathetic cowardice. He was born a nobody, born with the world rejecting him at every turn. Some part of him suspected that the reason Misato took him in was because of pity. The lowly human being known as Shinji didn't belong anywhere.

The brown haired boy in the purple jacket had hardly realized it, but during his internalization he had gotten off of the couch and was reaching for the door handle. He began to shake from the fear, from the thought of fighting that **thing** , from the world who hated him so much. Shinji backed away from the door, sitting back on the couch.

 _"_ _Then why save them?"_

He didn't know why. Sometimes, his body just moved without him thinking.

The brown haired boy sensed a presence, turning to his left and seeing Pen-Pen staring at him. When Misato had first found the penguin, his human-like intelligence had taken some getting used to. Here was a penguin who drank beer, got flustered when eating spicy ramen and even helped Misato do her taxes. But eventually Shinji got used to Pen-Pen, treating him like another family member.

Now, said family member was staring right into Shinji's soul. Despite lacking facial features, the bird's gaze seemed to convey a simple message to the boy, one he didn't want to hear. The brown haired boy turned away from the penguin, "I can't do it."

Pen-Pen continued to stare at him judgmentally. "I can't do it!" Shinji yelled back, a formation of tears in his eyes, "Misato will take care of it, she'll be fine! They even have Asuka on the team, and she's like, the strongest person in the world, so how could they possibly lose!?" Anxiety filled his lungs, causing him to hyperventilate.

The penguin didn't budge a centimeter, still staring at Shinji somberly. The brown haired coward didn't even have the guts to stare back at the bird. At last, Pen-Pen waddled over to the boy and gently touched his flippers on Shinji's shaking, clenched fists. "Wark." said Pen-Pen, trying to meet Shinji's gaze.

He retracted his hands from Pen-Pen's touch. The boy was trembling. He was scared of everything. Of the Angel, of his classmates, his father, and the world around him. Yet, as Shinji's thoughts gathered themselves and his breathing became steadier, the boy realized there was something else he was scared of. Something worse than all of the previously mentioned items, which panged on his very soul.

Shinji was scared that his lack of action, however small it would amount, might have otherwise doomed someone he could have saved. That even one person could have been rescued by him, but because he sat comfortably in his home, that person perished instead. He was afraid that it might happen to Misato. Asuka. Any one of his classmates.

Upon reaching this conclusion, Shinji was forced to realize he was much more terrified of that outcome than anything else he could think of.

Driven by fear, he stood up. As his heart pounded with each step, as his mouth trembled and his brain begged him to reconsider, his hands reached for the door and opened it.

* * *

New Reality (Act two: The Strugglers)

* * *

Rei's red eyes solemnly looked above herself as the platform she was on rose higher and higher. Within a few seconds she would reach ground level, right behind the Angel. Throughout the transportation, the girl felt a sense of serenity. This is what she had been destined to do. This, fighting the Angel, was what she had been born for. The definition of her existence lay just a few stories away.

She did not feel an inkling of fear. The battlefield was where she belonged, her home. Instead, the blue haired fighter felt what she assumed to be excitement from the fact that she could finally fulfill her purpose.

Rei brought her hands up to her face, staring at them. Her hands were covered in white gloves just like Ikari's hands were. Her gloves were slightly different, fingerless at Dr. Akagi's insistence. Something about being more feminine. However, this did not bother Rei. Although she lightly chastised herself for even thinking it, some small part of her liked the idea that she superficially resembled the one who had raised her.

The platform stopped. Rei's hands came down, seeing as how she had arrived. Her duty had begun. She looked up and the Angel turned towards her as well, likely sensing her presence. The black behemoth with a white mask regarded her with a sense of curiosity, abandoning trying to crash the electromagnetic wall to focus upon her.

As she had done many times before, Rei summoned her power and transformed.

Electricity swarmed her being and the girl started to grow. She grew taller and larger in every direction, as if she was becoming a giantess. This was only half true: As Rei's body grew larger, it also morphed into something decidedly inhuman. Her legs became sleeker, armored, a foreign metal covering her frame. Her arms, midsection and back steadily turned into a greyish blue as they hardened. Notably, the only places that did not harden, the joints, became glowing orange instead.

As the body became more angular, Rei continued to grow. Spikes emerged from her shoulders, small at first but grew larger with time. Spikes emerged from her forearms and began to cover her more vulnerable elbows, while the same thing took place with the girl's kneecaps. Horns grew from the girl's head, which had become a metal mask. The mask around Rei was jagged like the rest of her, overall in the shape of a V. The mask left a less angled V in the center of her face, allowing her red eyes to shine through the newly minted visor-like structure.

In the span of a couple seconds, Ayanami Rei had transformed herself into ultimate warrior. A titan slightly taller than the angel she faced, armored and vaguely feminine in shape. Her shoulders had become gigantic, going through to her biceps and tapering at the end where her sharp claws lay. The orange parts of her body shone an eerie glow, as was her orange visor. Electricity coursed through her body, from the center of her chest until it reached her hands and feet, where it settled.

Rei could not talk in this gigantic form. She made do with a low growl, sending her AT field to meet the Angel's in order to convey her message: Stand down, or be annihilated.

 **"** **INTRIGUING."** thought Sachiel as he gazed upon this Not-Angel. It was indeed [SIMILAR/CONGRUENT] to his form. There were several notable differences between his [SOUL/EXISTENCE] and the newcomer's, but the similarities they shared still struck something within the destroyer.

 _"_ _Isn't it?"_ said the voice in his head, _"_ _Say what you will about the Lillin, but one cannot deny that they make interesting things."_

 **"** **INDEED, I WILL ALLOW THAT MUCH."** admitted the skull masked Angel, **"** **BUT IT'S STILL NO MATCH FOR ME."**

Sachiel summoned twin swords from his [EXISTENCE/AT FIELD], one for each hand, and charged at the newcomer aiming for the kill. He swiped left with one sword but the Not-Angel moved with surprising agility and efficiency, completely dodging the strike and aimed her fist into Sachiel's gut. The punch connected and the Angel was blown back, ruining several buildings in the process.

Rei wasted no time and charged a fist of lightning at the Angel. The billions or so volts of electricity she had gathered crashed into the Angel with a might roar, but the monster did not relent. Instead, it pushed Rei off and rapidly grew its energy sword until it pierced through Rei's midsection. Grunting, the girl grabbed the energy saber, held it in place then broke it with the sheer force of her AT field, surprising the Angel.

In this moment of hesitation, Rei struck again. Using the electricity she generated in her feet, she instantly created a polarized field that resonated with the metallic ground- pushing her with a burst of speed which allowed her to tackle the Angel into submission. Now on top of the beast, the Not-Angel delivered blow after blow onto its enemies' head, each with the force of a missile but with the added bonus of AT field penetration.

The Angel's field, though mighty, could not withstand Rei's repeated blows and it steadily became more injured the more it was hit. Sachiel, in a moment of rage, summoned his [POWER/EXISTENCE] and fired a beam of light at point blank range. The laser blast created a cross shaped mark in the ground several times the titan's height, greatly damaging Rei while the force itself got the Not-Angel off of the beast.

Both fighters stood up an instant later, each injured but nowhere close to being defeated. Rei's injuries had already begun to regenerate, while Sachiel elected to do the same.

 **"** **IT'S ALMOST A SHAME I HAVE TO WIPE THEM OUT."** mused the Angel, almost wanting to see what else the Lillin would come up with if given another 20 years. Almost, but not quite. It charged again.

* * *

Asuka stared at the unfolding battle, unwilling to admit that her mouth was slightly agape. The orange haired girl had already been deployed at another hangar several dozen meters away from the fight- though not far enough she couldn't feel every blow between Rei and the Angel.

That giant… that metallic, electricity wielding giant had come from a small blue haired girl, whom they called Ayanami Rei. The super girl had to admit that what she saw from her was impressive. She could see why everyone thought the titan was the strongest person on the planet. It still didn't make her stronger than Asuka though.

 _"_ _Asuka, you are now linked up NERV headquarters."_ said a voice in her headpieces, recognized to be the good doctor's _"_ _Await further instructions from Misato and or Gendo Ikari. Ritsuko out."_

One second after the doctor's voice dropped out, Misato's broke in. _"_ _Hey there Asuka, how are you doing?"_

"Ready to kick _Engel Arsch_." replied the ever confident girl.

 _"_ _I don't know what that is, but good for you!"_ said the ever peppy strategic commander, _"_ _As you can see, Rei is engaging the Angel directly. Your job is to, when Ritski finds a weakness, destroy it from your hidden position. Until then, stay put and wait for our signal. Clear?"_

Asuka blinked a few times. They were telling her to play second fiddle? To just be _backup_? "Ms. Katsuragi, wouldn't my talent be better suited to engaging the Angel directly?" she said with just a slight hint of disapproval.

 _"_ _Don't worry Asuka, Rei will hold out until then!"_ said the voice on the other end, while the orange haired super frowned _"_ _Hold your position until further orders. We got this."_

The black swordswoman disconnected from Asuka, leaving her fuming both figuratively and literally thanks to the wonders of pyrokinesis. Standing still and waiting were not what the girl had in mind when it came to saving the world- she had expected a flashy entrance, beating the Angel to dust as NERV and the world looked in awe, finally delivering an epic one-liner with the last blow.

Okay, so maybe some of the details wouldn't be like in her comic books, but this was straight up a grave misuse of her enormous power. If she had her way, she would utterly destroy that stupid monster.

Asuka grinned. A plan began to form in her mind. Sooner or later, Rei would lose the fight. She would be knocked over, reverting to her human form. And in that moment, right before the Angel killed her…

Her fist clenched with anticipation. That was when she would make her move and save them all.

* * *

The head monitor at the NERV command center showed the ongoing battle between Rei and the Angel in the utmost detail. This much was to be expected by such a well-funded organization, but moreover it was a necessary expense. In addition to the normal monitor, several computers hooked up to it were witnessing the battle in the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum, from a heat based perspective, an electromagnetic graph and various other devices. Every single moment was captured, sent directly to the MAGI and every one of NERV's researchers from every conceivable viewpoint if only to gain the slightest edge of winning.

Speaking of which, "Ritski, what do you have for me?" Misato barked into the air.

 _"_ _I honestly can't tell if Rei is hurting it or not."_ said the head of R&D, _"_ _The new odds of winning are calculated to be 73.4%."_

"Never tell me the odds. Anything actually useful?" huffed the purple haired woman.

 _"_ _Maybe. Initial sensory data indicates that all of its AT field is generated from a single source, like in humans."_ explained the computer connected doctor, _"_ _Hypothetically that could be a weak point… if it exists."_

Misato nodded. "Good enough. What about the mobilization of our troops?"

 _"_ _Done. They are defeating the Angel's spawn as we speak with some difficulty. Shelter 21 was attacked ten minutes ago, I sent soldiers there but thanks to their disruption, I'm disconnected from that sector for the time being."_ Ritsuko responded.

From above, Gendo and Fuyutsuki watched this without making a sound. Thus far everything had been going according to plan, so there was no need to intervene. The Japanese military had even been so kind as to shut up once they saw Rei.

"Everything goes smoothly." remarked the aged advisor.

"Indeed." replied Gendo still in his Gendo pose. Rei was performing as he had predicted. Not only her, but Misato, Dr. Akagi, everyone in NERV had been following his plans to the dot. Even the casualties were within a certain limit. It was nice when the pawns moved as they should, it made the supreme commander's life a lot easier.

Red alert signs went off as Ritsuko hurriedly reported a sudden buildup in the Angel's AT field. The monstrosity on the monitor threw a punch at Rei, who dodged only to be head-butted faster and stronger than anyone thought possible.

On the monitor, the Angel summoned one of its purple spears and threw it at the pulsating titan. Rei wasted no time and used an electric hand to divert the spear from its course at the last second. Then, charging her legs, a lightning strike was shot into the Angel's gut. The Angel gagged a red substance, then quickly threw itself off in order to reposition itself.

Gendo sighed. The only pawn not behaving was the Angel.

* * *

The TV screens in the shelter showed the battle with the Angel thus far. Hikari had not been expecting that she would witness the battle even indirectly, but here she was with her eyes glued to the screen. Everyone in her area had gone to Shelter 34 on the southern end of Tokyo-3, one of the farthest shelters from where the Angel was attacking. There had been taken into this particular shelter because when the Angel attacked, it was the closest one and rules were rules.

At this thought, Hikari glanced over at Toji. He was sitting but shaking his feet, moving his arms and doing all manner of knuckle cracks while he sat. The boy was nervous and for a good reason.

"Whoa! She punched that thing with freaking lightning fists!" said the ever excitable Kensuke Aida.

"Uh-huh." Toji replied drolly.

"Damn, if only I could be out there with my camera! I'd get such goods shots of the battle…"

"Uh-huh."

"Dude, I wonder who this 'Rei' chick even is. Until a week ago, nobody had even heard of her. Now here she is, saving us all."

"Uh-huh."

Kensuke narrowed his eyes. "… also, people who wear tracksuits are idiots."

"Uh-huh." The brown haired boy didn't even hear him. He was fervently staring at the TV, specifically the lowermost part where it contained the names of who died and which shelters were active. Kensuke lightly smacked his best friend, which finally got his attention. He assured Toji that his family was fine, that there was nothing to worry about. Sadly this did not ease the boy's worries.

Hikari let out a soft sigh. Toji's mom had died when he was younger, and his father had developed a lame leg. More than that, the boy had a little sister whom he cared about more than his own life. Now that they were in a shelter far away from where the Toji's house was located, the athlete had no idea where either of his family members were.

But their names hadn't shown up on the dead list yet. It was this fact alone that kept the reckless super powered boy from bolting out of the shelter altogether. For now, the stream of names had nothing to do with Toji. He kept his eyes trained on the screen, waiting for his answer.

Just as soon as Hikari thought this, an emergency announcement was made: _"_ _Shelter 21 has been attacked by what appears to be smaller versions of the Angel!"_ said the reporter.

Toji widened his eyes.

 _"_ _Ten minutes ago, NERV agents were dispatched to the site in order to rescue the people in 21, but have not been heard from since."_

Toji stood up.

"Hey!" shouted Kensuke, remembering that shelter 21 was the closest shelter to where the athlete's house was.

"Toji, don't do it!" said Hikari fervently, knowing exactly what was going on in the brown haired boy's mind. Kensuke grabbed his arm forcibly to restrain him.

His friend's words had no effect, in fact Toji Suzuhara probably didn't even hear them. With surprising speed and dexterity, he bolted out of Kensuke's grip and to the front door without laying a single foot on the myriad of people sprawled onto the floor. There, NERV guards tried in vain to tell him to sit back down, only to have green chains surrounding them in the next second. Then with a flash of light, the bolts on the door were forcibly opened, letting in the cold air.

"Toji!" shouted Hikari, trying to think of something that would dissuade him. The brown haired boy heard her this time and regarded her with a cold look. However, his anger vanished when he saw just how worried his friend was for him, as he was for his family. The boy turned to face Hikari with a more gentle expression and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'll be back." he said with a smile, "Man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." The athlete turned and sprinted out into the danger zone, heading for the 21st shelter.

"You'd better come back…" replied Hikari in a soft voice.

The boy ran desperately towards his destination. Being on the track team served to his advantage, because when combined with his super-powered physique he was able to sprint faster than most Olympians. Toji ran through the idea that ten minutes ago, NERV soldiers had been sent to take care of the problem, which meant he had a window of time between his shelter and the 21st. This gave him a smidgeon of hope.

Toji turned around a corner, going onto a main road which was the most direct path to his family. As he ran, the boy in the red tracksuit observed his surroundings. Tokyo-3 was emptier than he could have imagined, eerie in its own way. Cars both intact and destroyed lined the streets with owners that may never return to them. Windows were shattered on the tall skyscrapers, their glass falling to the streets below. Fires burned and their orange hue rivaled the setting sun, bathing the town in red.

Most importantly, the boy observed a number of the Angel's spawn, scattered about doing who knows what. He didn't care and sped past them undetected. In the background he heard combat noises from a gargantuan battle not too far away from where he was- Rei and the Angel. Luckily for him and his family, shelter 21 was not in that direction.

Finally, Toji turned one last corner and beheld the broken shelter a few dozen meters away. Its windows were smashed, its metal door was mangled and torn off and there was no sign of life. The boy felt his heart racing as he ran to that shelter, being confronted at the last minute by small skull faced monsters.

"Get outta my way!" He bulldozed through all of them and made his way to the door, where he saw a single dead body, a former guard now gone to meet his maker. The boy gulped, expecting the worst. Heart pounding, he raced into the shelter, finding it just as broken as the outside, if not more so. There was no one inside, giving him a fleeting hope that everyone escaped. But then, when he saw the bloodied ground, he panicked.

"Sakura! Dad!" Toji screamed at the top of his lungs, salty tears beginning to well up.

Silence. The boy clenched his fists and shouted for his family again. More silence. Toji Suzuhara was now shaking, the blood on the floor becoming ever more apparent within his mind. Was that the guards? Someone else? Or was it, as his brain went to the worst possible scenario, his little sister's life that had been spilled in this desolate area…?

"Big brother?"

The brown haired boy heard the cry of a little girl whom he knew all too well. He scanned the area for the source of the voice, and found a pair of soft eyes peeking out from a bloodied tile.

"It's Toji!" shouted Sakura Suzuhara, leaping out from the safe space and running into her older brother's arms. As he held his precious sister, the boy saw many heads peeking out from the tile, all of whom were relieved to see it was just a high school boy and not another monster.

"Bout time ya got here." said a gruff older man, hoisting himself up and sporadically making his way over to Toji, putting a giant hand on his son's shoulder.

"Hey, dad."

"Sakura here was worried sick for ya." The old man scratched his bearded face, musing about the crazy day. "We were almost done fer."

"Yeah, what happened here?" Toji looked around the destroyed place and the faces of the curious survivors, peeking out from under the floor. Sakura and Daigo Suzuhara explained that they had gone to shelter 21, just as ordered, and for a while everything was quiet. Then, the mini Angels came- an entire army's worth- and started to assail their fortress. The army defeated one of the guards, killing them, and then proceeded to injure the other.

From there they broke into the shelter and started to round up the humans as if they were cattle. For whatever reason, they didn't immediately kill everyone in the shelter, instead observing them for about 5 minutes. After that grace though, the Angel's spawn started to attack everyone they could. They didn't get very far.

"And then… uh… I dunno what happened." The elder Suzuhara closed his eyes from confusion, "Then they all just started dying."

"Huh?" Toji wondered.

"Yeah, somebody invisible beat them all up!" Sakura interjected.

The grey haired father shrugged, "Somethin' like that. They all just kinda fell down at once. Then the floor cracked and somebody told us to go into the underground shelter- and whaddaya know, there's a whole 'nother space underground that we all fit through."

This all sounded very familiar to Toji. Invisible army? Maybe it was just one Invisible Boy. Maybe…

A hissing sound to his right caused the young man to turn, he saw a single masked monster standing a few dozen meters from the shelter. It clicked in a strange tone, and soon more of them appeared behind the first one.

Toji grimaced, forcing his sister to his father. "Stand behind me!"

The army charged with a rallying cry of hisses and distorted screams. The energy constructor immediately threw himself outside the shelter and created a two green gates, which sealed themselves shut, at the front of the shelters broken entrance. Toji summoned several swords hanging in the sky, a knight's armor to protect himself, and a life sized steamroller just in case. Now they had to go through him in order to get to Shelter 21.

Toji was ready for combat and so was the newly formed army. The mini-Angels charged at him while hissing and thrashing their sharp limbs. And then a couple of them fell over, as if hit with a great force. The mini-Angels halted their advance for a brief moment, scanning the area for the second enemy- the one that had distracted them not too long ago.

Shinji Sekai appeared right beside the knight themed teenager, surprising Toji. The shorter boy had a look of regret on his face as he gazed towards the one body outside the shelter: the corpse of the NERV soldier killed in battle.

"I wasn't fast enough …" the invisible boy muttered to himself, almost too low for Toji to hear. The athlete understood well enough what Shinji was referring to, and in response gave him a light pat on the back.

"No. Ya did what ya could." said Toji, now meeting his eyes "The fact that my family's still alive, that was your doing, right?" Shinji avoided meeting his gaze at this, a sure sign that he did "I owe ya one."

Here, the army of creatures finally noticed Shinji. Screeching, they charged at him, but their charging was halted by a gigantic blade slashing the ground. This giant blade created a gash in the earth, briefly separating the angel and the two males.

"Toji… I need to be somewhere else. Can you handle this?" asked Shinji in a timid voice. Laughter broke out from the other youth, "Hah! If I couldn't handle this much, what kinda man would I be!?"

The energy constructor let the steamroller loose, now paired with a bulldozer, which mowed down a path in the now dwindling army "Go! We'll talk later!"

The timid boy widened his eyes, but nodded his head. Steeling his resolve, Shinji vanished again. Toji turned his attention back to the army- their numbers had decreased somewhat, but they had finally bridged the small chasm the broadsword had created. They marched in chaotic fashion towards shelter 21, intending to finish their job of killing everyone inside. Toji politely disagreed with this sentiment so he shot a couple of green spheres into some of them.

One came with a simple charge attack, but Toji sledgehammered him into submission. He was met by two more that attacked from either side, to which the youth responded by throwing small knives in the creature's masks to disorient them. This unfortunately was the last breathing moment that the energy constructor had, for then a wave of black pounced upon him.

In perfect synchrony, one of the mini-Angels grabbed Toji's leg while another grabbed his arm. They flipped him on his back in an instant while three more leapt upon him, slashing with their sharp claws. It was fortuitous that he made a suit of armor around himself, or the boy might have been done for at that moment. For no sooner than he was attacked by those three did the entire army dogpile on top of him with their own AT field's no less, their sheer weight would have otherwise crushed his human body.

Toji's armor would crack in about ten seconds from the pressure of the AT fields and mass, which gave him that much time to come up with a plan to get out of that situation. Two seconds in, the boy had something which resembled a plan: He created as many small sharp, indistinct shards as he could in the limited space between himself and the creatures, then commanded them to spin in a circular fashion at very high speeds.

This spinning loosened the mini-Angels hold on him, allowing Toji to create more small blades, then more in succession as space was created by those, until an entire tornado had formed around him. The green tornado whipped and threw away all of the creatures that were once on top of him. He had to cancel the tornado the instant he was free though, as it took too much energy to control that many objects.

The mini-Angels were bleeding an unnaturally familiar red hued blood, but they were still alive for the most part. Toji had no time to repair his cracked armor as they charged at him again. He met their claws with swords, hammers and knives. Soon his body was moving in the rhythm of battle, as enemies from all sides attacked him. He was weaker, but so were they. And so they fought again.

A punch here, a slash there, a mace there, a bulldozer there. Toji became a flurry of motion as he met the creatures head on, not allowing a single one of the bastards to hit him. He screamed, he choked, he bled. After what seemed like hours to Toji, he whipped around to face another one of the masked creatures only to realize there were none left.

All of them were dead, and their bodies were dissolving into black mist. Toji's lungs burned as he inhaled, his muscles ached and his brain grew foggy from the lack of oxygen. He was bloodied, bruised, beaten to the point of exhaustion and alive. He didn't realize it at the time, but the youth had destroyed a total of 86 mini-Angels in the span of less than fifteen minutes.

He didn't even have enough energy to keep the gate open, which also dissolved into nothingness, revealing a crowd of wide eyed people eager to see the results of his battle. From the crowd emerged a young brown haired girl, who eagerly swept her brother up in her arms, afraid for the state he was in. As tired as the boy was, his instincts as an older brother commanded him to look cool in front of his little sister. So he gave Sakura a hearty smile and laughed.

"Ain't I amazing?"

* * *

Rei delivered a five megaton punch infused with electricity straight into the Angel's face. She followed up with a left hook into the beast's vulnerable side, then used that hook's momentum for a devastating lightning kick in the same area. The skull masked creature toppled over- but not before razing the side of Rei's steely face with a pink and white beam.

The kaiju-sized girl yelped in pain, reflexively reaching for her cheek before the training kicked in, allowing her to ignore her instincts. She charged at the Angel, engaging in fisticuffs once more.

In the command room, the men and women of NERV watched in awe, truly realizing what it meant to fight monsters. Rei's massive transformation had startled the ones who hadn't been briefed on her, but her fighting capabilities were beyond anything they had ever seen. She was fighting with the Angel, a harbinger of extinction, on equal footing. A feeling of ease overcame the men and women in the last bastion of humanity, a sense of confidence that they could _win_ against these creatures.

This sentiment was not shared by the bionic woman who ran the MAGI.

 _"Misato, I still can't tell if we're doing damage to it."_ said Ritsuko from one of the many speakers.

The commander narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean? Rei's blows must be hurting it, or else it wouldn't bleed."

 _"That isn't the problem. When the First Angel was hit with the N2 mine, I was able to detect that it was capable of instantly regenerated the damage that it did. And although the Angel's biology is still unknown to me, if we assume its regeneration speed is equal to what was gathered from earlier, then we aren't hurting it. Worse, Rei is guaranteed to lose."_

Before Misato could question why that was, Ritsuko explained further: _"I can quantify the amount of damage Rei does with each blow, as well as the Angel to an extent. Their blows are approximately equal when everything is evened out, with the Angel being slightly stronger. However, the Angel can regenerate at a rate of at least ten times what Rei can do… meaning that over time, the battle will eventually turn in the First Angel's favor."_

Hearing these words, the men and women of NERV were reminded that they were currently fighting an abomination which could end the world. The tension came back instantly, and the staff became more alerted to their jobs. The purple haired Misato frowned, "Then I guess it's a good thing Rei isn't alone."

Misato turned her eye to the side in order to discreetly observe the Supreme Commander. His bearded face was as expressionless as always, observing the battle from his white gloved hands while the ever present Fuyutsuki stood in attention at his side. The two men were so calm about the situation that it unnerved Misato for an instant. "Ritski, give me three maps of the local area where they are fighting, angled top wise and either side of the battlefield. Convert those battle calculations into easy numbers I can use and overlay them on those screens, as well as any readings from its AT field."

 _"You intend to observe the Angel to see if it had any fighting patterns?"_

"Yep. Once I figure that out, I can send in Asuka safely."

 _"Understood. I'll help you with that. Bringing you the relevant data…"_ As per Ritsuko's will, three screens appeared right in front of Misato, showing the Angel from the top, from a distant right and a close up on its left. The Angel was colored grey while green and blue numbers appeared in synchrony around the screens, green for expended kinetic energy and blue for AT field fluctuations.

"Asuka," said Misato into her headset "Get ready to scramble, we'll need you soon."

She didn't wait for a reply, turning her attention back to the monitors, trying to discern a pattern within the calculations that appeared onscreen. The Angel was of course, using a fighting pattern that was completely alien even to the battle-hardened Misato. She could already discern that the thing fought neither like a man or a beast, its movements were completely foreign.

 _"I've determined the source of its AT field."_ said Ritsuko, putting up a red sphere in the middle of the holographic Angel, lodged deep into its chest. _"This is a structure analogous the heart in humans- but unlike ours which pumps blood, this one releases AT energy in regular intervals."_

"You don't say…" a smile formed on Misato's lips, a plan forming. Once she realized the Angel's attack pattern, she could figure out a way to send Asuka to sneak up on it, then deal a devastating blow to the Angel's core. She turned back to their champion on the monitors to see the state of the assault.

In the battlefield proper, the electric wielding kaiju had just delivered a stunning double fisted punch directly into the Angel, infused with electricity of course. The electricity was intended to disable the Angel, and it had worked. As the Angel had stuttered backwards while static cracked along its body, its limbs trembled chaotically, the electricity paralyzing it.

Seeing her chance, Rei shrouded her right fist in a gauntlet of electricity, charged her feet against the metal on the ground, and rushed in to deliver a blow to the Angel's core, which as she just learned about was located somewhere in the Angel's upper midsection. This was it. That was to be the last blow, a megaton of electricity shot directly into the apocalyptic being's core, killing it for sure.

And then in the command center, the blue numbers on the monitor suddenly grew larger by many folds accompanied with the obligatory warning labels. Before Misato could scream at Rei to dodge whatever was in coming, it had already happened.

With widened eye slits, the lightning kaiju realized at the last second that it had been tricked; the Angel hadn't been paralyzed at all. In the ether, Sachiel grinned as it summoned the true power of its AT field and warped the laws of momentum, slowing Rei for 1.271 seconds.

Within that precious instant, the First Angel materialized a kilometer wide sword and impaled directly into Rei's chest. Before the girl could get over the shock of being impaled, the spear exploded while still lodged within her, dealing a devastating blow to the titan. The explosion propelled her backwards on a collision course with several buildings. Her electronic screams filled the air until she finally hit the fifth skyscraper and stopped cold, only for the Angel to have distorted gravity, leapt several dozen kilometers in the air, and crash into her like a meteor.

The crack of Rei's bones was heard by everyone.

It was especially heard by Asuka, who took it as a signal to fly faster than sound towards the unsuspecting Angel. Within a second the super girl closed the distance between her fist and the monster's head, punching it so hard it toppled over. A grin overtook her face for just an instant, before being replaced the Angel quickly regained its balance and swung at her with its laser sword.

Asuka caught it with her bare hands, but the force was greater than what she anticipated, the sword swung downwards and her with it until it crashed her into the streets below, leveling the area. Sachiel noted the newcomer and tried to kill it as fast as possible. It created another sword in its arms and swung at the red colored fly with all it had.

The super girl was fast enough to dodge its strikes and now smart enough to know that if it landed a good hit on her, she would be fried. In her ears, Misato screamed at Asuka to get back into position. Yet she wasn't to be deterred- Asuka flew back towards Sachiel's head and uppercutted the jaw of its skull mask, twice. The creature fell back for a second, and Asuka used her fire powers to finish the job.

By creating flames hotter than plasma torches, the girl seared the monster in a maelstrom of fire. The beast's skin burnt, its mask started to melt, and Asuka could see that there was a red sphere just under its chest, now revealed because of the burning. She aimed a more precise flame at the core and fired.

Sachiel noted this and replied by crushing Asuka back into the dirt with a well-timed and expertly placed sword swing. This act rended Miyabito Street in half, caused the buildings around the street to topple from the sheer force of impact, and the red haired girl herself felt pain like no other, screaming as she collided with the ground.

The Angel turned its attention away from the red fly and focused back on his real opponent, who was still hunched over and immobile from his last attack. A bright pink and white beam emerged from the beast directed at the Not-Angel, and when it collided it shredded the [mockery]'s upper body into nothingness. Now with its head and shoulders torn off, the lightning kaiju was officially deceased.

Or was it?

 **"WAIT… THIS [SOUL/EXISTENCE] IN THAT BODY IS STRANGE. IT IS AS IF THE BODY IS BUT A SHELL WITH NO SUBSTANCE…"**

 _"I think you've been had, Sachiel. The one who you were fighting abandoned that body already."_

 **"ANNOYING. WHERE IS THE REAL BODY?"** Sachiel was then attacked by a desperate Asuka, who tried to punch it in the gut, but was met with another swords strike in the process, sending the girl into the skies.

 _"I can't say. I'm too far away to accurately sense her, now that's she's hiding her [AT FIELD/EXISTENCE] from us."_ replied the voice somberly.

Meanwhile on the ground, the black suited champion limped and bled her way to relative safety. As mentioned in the declassified briefing on Rei Ayanami, her kaiju form more or less operated like a giant, organic robot with Rei as the controller. Thus, when her body transformed into that giant form, Rei's real body lay in the skull case, where the brain normally would be. From there, the girl controlled the titan's body while wrapped in a cocoon of organic nerve-like structures.

However, Rei could abandon her titan sized body with ease by detaching herself from this cocoon. This was the case now; like a lizard cutting of its tail to escape a predator, the girl had leapt out of the brain case and fled to the streets below. She breathed deeply, in pain and wishing her regeneration speed was faster.

 _"Rei! Status!"_ yelled Misato desperately as the Angel fired a beam that incinerated her titan form's head.

"I… I am alive." said the blue haired girl succinctly, wincing from the pain. On the other end, the strategic commander breathed a sigh of relief. Rei laid down next to a collapsed steel building that was already destroyed, a less likely place for the Angel to attack "I am injured… I cannot create another Titan yet because of my wounds…"

The girl turned towards the Angel, a distance away fighting Asuka. The red haired super was managing to hold the creature's attention, but it was clear that she was losing the battle. Each time Asuka struck the Angel, it retaliated with greater force and speed.

 _"It is good that you are still alive."_ This was a new voice, one Rei knew all too well. _"Therefore, Rei, you will use this time to heal your body. As soon as you are able, Titanize and deal an attack into the Angel's core."_ quickly, her headpiece displayed a 3D image of the Angel, along with its red spherical weakness. _"The rest of you, launch missiles in order to distract the Angel to buy Rei more time."_

 _"You can't be serious, Gendo. If we launch our weapons while Asuka is in the vicinity-"_

 _"She ignored our orders."_

Rei could feel the hiss in his voice even from here, _"We are up against a force that threatens all of humanity, so this is not up for discussion. Rei's safety takes more priority than Asuka's."_

The supreme commander was threatening to blow up the area in order to buy time for Rei to heal. It was a logical decision, but one that the blue haired girl somehow couldn't agree with. Rei belonged on the battlefield, for that was her purpose, but this was not the case for Asuka. Unlike herself, Asuka had chosen to fight for humanity, had chosen to stand on this battlefield despite the odds against her. What's more…

"Commander, if I may speak?" said Rei, her vocal cords having been fully healed "Please prioritize Asuka's safety. That would be most logical course of action."

 _"Elaborate."_

Stoically, she explained: "This is not the only Angel we will face. It is then reasonable that we have the largest combative force available to NERV at any given time. If Asuka dies, then we will lose war potential. However, if I were to die, war potential would not be lost, since I can be replaced."

Silence filled the radio, until at last Misato spoke up _"Rei, what are you talking about!?"_

"Do not worry, Misato. I will be back." The girl began to titanize even with her injuries, which as past experiments indicated, would produce a malformed body. Yet, the incomplete transformation would buy them some time for Asuka to get out. From there, the missiles would appear, Rei would be replaced, and deliver the final blow to the Angel. It was the most logical strategy.

"Wait."

A voice down below. Her transformation suddenly stopped, though not by her own will. Rei was trapped between titan and human form, a ten foot tall amalgamation of metallic sheen and human flesh. She was however, able to turn her head and see just who it was that had spoken to her.

"You need time to regenerate… right?"

* * *

 _"Contact with Rei has been lost."_ breathed Ritsuko from the MAGI.

"What!?" Misato slammed the table, "What do you mean lost!? Isn't that virtually impossible!?"

 _"I know, I'm trying alternate routes, but they aren't working for some reason!"_

The commander and vice commander of NERV, who had been mostly silent the whole time, began to shuffle uncomfortably. A knowing look was exchanged between the two. After a moment's pause, Fuyutsuki moved from his position and towards the elevator, which he took down to an unknown floor. Gendo remained alone, carefully observing the situation.

Misato felt sweat drip down her face. Everything was going all wrong- Asuka was disobeying orders, Rei had been hit with a severe blow and was now missing, the Angel was getting closer to breaching the Geofront…

But she forced herself to remain calm. To not show any fear, so that her loyal soldiers wouldn't lose their cool too. She gripped her iron sword unconsciously, briefly remembering the man who knew no fear, who had given it to her.

"Get Asuka out of there." decided Misato, pressing a few buttons on her display "After she's gone from the battle we'll bombard the thing with enough missiles to distract it. Then, we find Rei. Get on it, Ritski!"

The computer technicians began to input missile trajectory calculation while Dr. Akagi silently began putting her electronic feelers out. Misato barked into Asuka's channel "We're going to use missiles to distract the thing, so get the hell out of there!"

* * *

 _"-so get the hell out of there!"_

The proud and mighty Asuka Langley Soryuu, who possessed five great powers and was indisputably the strongest person at Tokyo-3 High lay bleeding on the ground, covered in dirt and with a few broken fingers and ribs.

Sachiel's blows finally caught up with her body. The girl was in pain. She spat out some of her own blood and tears sprang from her eyes.

She was angry.

This was all wrong. She was supposed to save the day and be crowned a hero. She was supposed to beat the apocalyptic Angels and be forever remembered as Earth's greatest champion. Instead here she was, on the ground, crying like she never had before at her own helplessness. Her fire barely singed the monster, her strength was no match for the Angel's titanic power. In short order, she was far weaker than the Angel was and if it hadn't ignored her after that last blow, she would have been dead already.

It ignored her because it didn't see Asuka as a real threat. She wasn't worthy of its attention. So there she lay in the dirt, alive and broken.

 _"You will **never** be my daughter."_

She was angry. Furious. Livid. Ferociously mad at everyone and everything.

Beaten.

 _A_ _small Asuka stared at the stone. Written on the stone was the name of her father, Pieter Langley. Hesitantly, she turned to the side, facing the woman. The black haired woman looked haggard and scary. Papers were in her hand, given to her by the nice Gehirn scientists. The woman hated the papers, but Asuka didn't know why._

 _"You fucking bastard." the woman hissed, scaring little Asuka. The woman turned to her now, still with the same angry look in her eyes. "And you…"_

 _Now the woman's attention was fully on the small, frightened child. The black haired lady told her in stern voice "Every time I look at you, I feel sick."_

 _The woman walked away. Asuka had to follow her, since she had to live with the woman from now on._

 _"_ No… Not yet…!" Asuka struggled to get up, managing to stand if only by sheer willpower. The strategic commander screamed her from her earphones, but Asuka couldn't hear it. Infernal power welled up within her, driven by her anger towards the Angel. Her fire became hotter and hotter, a flaming aura with temperatures reaching solar levels burning the local area, rising in temperature along with her fury.

 _"It would have been better if you were **never born.** "_

 **"VERRECKE DOCH!"**

She rushed towards the Angel with all the hatred she had. Her fist made contact with the unsuspecting monster's spine, shattering its bone-like structure. As the beast turned around, Asuka fired off another punch- much stronger than the last and initiated a combo of blows upon the beast. She pummeled the Angel with all she had, her strength growing with her anger. It hit her back, but she ignored it and continued to beat her enemy like a raging beast.

After enough blows its blood spewed out and blotted out the girl's eyes. She continued to hit it. The girl felt something snap, possibly the Angel's bones or possibly her own. She continued to hit it. Asuka's ears were nearly deaf from her own screaming. She continued to hit it.

She wanted it to feel pain. She wanted it to suffer for what it had done to her. Her overtaxed body was being pushed to the brink, but she kept going, tears and screams masking the impact noises of her fists. The Angel was defenseless against this newfound power increase. It had to divert all of its energy to defense and regeneration, for Asuka's blows were too powerful to do anything else. Its form began to shrink as layers of skin melted away, as its bones began to break. Asuka was driving it into the ground. Every second, the crater where she was beating it grew larger.

Suddenly Asuka's arm stopped moving. Her other arm fell limp shortly after.

The girl coughed up blood. Her great power immediately dissipated and she fell to the ground like a stone. The girl had far breached the limitations of her body and soul, and now she was paying the price. Every bone in both her arms was broken, her muscles had been ripped apart from the strain, her AT field had disappeared altogether, and the energy feedback caused her skin to bleed from every pore in her body, coloring the girl a pure crimson.

Covered in her own blood, barely conscious and unable to even breathe properly Asuka lay in the dirt, feeling a little less angry than before. It was a miracle at all that she wasn't dead yet.

The now risen Angel would fix that. Although it had been costly, it had spongified its form in order to lessen the damage from Asuka's attacks. Now that it was back to its more solid form, it stared at Asuka with blood red eyes, out for revenge. Asuka had actually managed to hurt it- but in the girl's rage, she had completely avoided Sachiel's core, saving it from death.

The girl could only stare up at the apocalyptic being with tears in her eyes, weeping.

Sachiel used his power to summon four more arms from his shoulder, each one manifesting a deadly purple spear.

 **"DIE."** commanded Sachiel as it thrust all six spears into the ground, each one containing the force of a nuclear explosion. The spears shot forth towards Asuka's helpless form and exploded upon impact, decimating both her and the local area to nothingness.

From the command room, everyone fell silent as they watched Asuka die. This was it. That was the moment of humanity's extinction.

The Angel stood tall, having defeating both of the Lillin's champions. It turned its attention towards the electromagnetic barrier and with a slash, destroyed it. It advanced towards the Geofront, where its true goal lay.

Then a giant metallic fist collided with the Angel's skull mask, sending the monster flying. Everyone inside of NERV gasped from shock and relief. The Angel had never been more annoyed. Misato practically cried at the monitors readings.

"Apologies for the delay, commander. I have recovered."

The lightning kaiju stood tall and proud, not a single deformity on its body, indicating Rei's healthy status. At once, both the command center and Rei became a buzz of activity. Misato frantically shouted orders into Rei's earpiece, telling her to slice at the Angel's chest- which hadn't fully regenerated yet according to the MAGI.

Rei summoned electricity and forced it into the Angel before it could react, following up with a clawed swipe at its skin- revealing the red core. Sachiel was now worried, its regenerative powers were waning, and the Lillin had exposed its core.

 **"DON'T THINK FOR A SECOND THAT YOU CAN WIN!"** A purple aura surrounded the humanoid angel, drastically increasing its speed and offensive capabilities at the cost of defense. It slammed back into Rei with all size of its swords, decimating the local area and landing several good blows on the kaiju. More expertly timed sword swings followed, but Rei was able to block most of them thanks to the MAGI analyzing its fighting pattern. The metallic titan bided her time, patiently waiting. She blocked a few blows, another few pierced her, but she remained calm, waiting for the opportunity.

It finally came. In the middle of two horizontal slashes from either side, plus an angled chop from above, the Angel froze in place for half a second.

Rei's hands aimed for the chest and the Angel gaped down in horror.

A cannon of lightning half a kilometer wide shot from her open palms and directly onto the Angel's core. It was all the electricity Rei had in her body, unleashed all at once towards a single target. The electromagnetic force broke though the core's outer shell and exposed the liquid interior, which the lightning also shocked. This severed blow caused Sachiel to collapse, smoke pouring from its body.

 _"ONE MORE SHOT, REI!"_ yelled Misato. Rei leapt to deal the final strike and end this madness, but the Angel shot a beam at her in midair, diverting the girl's path. Rei crashed through some buildings instead, but stood back up.

 **"YOU… INSOLENT…"** Already, Sachiel's [SOUL/CONSCIOUSNESS] was beginning to fade away. His core had been broken, half of it destroyed by the creature's lightning. The Angel considered his options while carefully timed metal rods were hurled in his direction, covering up his vision with their explosions. The lillin weapons did not hurt him and Sachiel could still sense his opponent in the distance. He fired an all-encompassing beam at that location, decimating yet more skyscrapers and directly piercing the body of the Not-Angel with his attacks.

Sachiel was then stabbed in the back, the lightning spear now lodged firmly into his core.

The swords dissipated and all six arms went limp. The skull faced Angel turned around to meet his aggressor- a malformed kaiju hastily conjured by the blue haired lillin. She had distracted him with her old body, then snuck around with this new one.

 **"HOW ARROGANT...!"** Sachiel spoke to Rei, although she only heard strange groaning noises. Its six arms combined their respective blades at the apex of its head, where upon firing a laser straight into the sky, the swords collided with this laser to form a pink energy sword several kilometers long. Both NERV and Rei gaped at the sheer size of the blade, which was now aimed in the titan's general direction.

 **"NOW PERISH ONCE AND FOR ALL!"** The sword swung down and incinerated everything it touched. The air screamed in pain, the tops of buildings vanished from the heat and the sky itself turned a pink hue as the power of the apocalypse came crashing down upon humanity. Rei stood still, gazing up at the pink sky. Either one of two things would happen. Either she would perish here, or…

* * *

In the distance, Shinji gathered all the energy he had and raised his hand, eyes aglow with an unearthly power.

"No."

* * *

Right before the monstrous power slashed her into less than nothing, the blade slowed at an increasing rate until completely stopped in mid-strike, along with Sachiel's six arms.

 **"WH-WHAT!?"** gaped the beast.

Rei saw that the sword had stopped and wasted no time. She rushed forward with all the speed her malformed titanic body could muster, awkwardly hurrying to the Angel.

 **"WHAT IS THIS!? WHY CAN'T I MOVE!? THIS… THERE IS AN INTERFERENCE! SOMETHING IS INTERFERING WITH MY [BODY/SOUL]!"**

Humanity's titan rushed forward, her left and fully formed first now tightly clenched, swinging back to end it. Sachiel could only gape in horror as the puny human finally reached her destination and punched the Angel's broken core in a mighty crash of electricity and power, frying and pounding at the core with every ounce of power she could muster.

The crack of the Angel's core being broken reverberated throughout the area. Everyone in Tokyo-3 heard it.

The skull masked being looked down at her and growled. **"WELL PLAYED, LILLIN."**

The Angel's body exploded a sea of red down below, the energy in the sword disappearing along with its owner's existence. As the red rain came pouring down for a few seconds, Rei's titan body collapsed to her knees.

It was over.

The girl breathed deeply, gasping for the oxygen she so craved. Funnily enough, it tasted much sweeter than it had before the battle. Rei supposed that this was the taste given to one who survived.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the headquarters. _"…Rei… Rei! Answer me!"_ shouted Misato.

"…I believe this is victory." stated the blue haired girl.

That one statement from Rei was enough to cause the entire headquarters to erupt into a cheer. They had done it. After so much planning, so much fighting, the first Angel was utterly destroyed. The news was quickly spread to everyone in Tokyo-3, who also cheered for the occasion. A bunch of lowly humans had defeated an apocalyptic monster, which wasn't too bad for the species.

Unfortunately there were going to be more of those monsters, Gendo noted. Additionally the rest of the Angels were supposed to be stronger than Sachiel. He contemplated sharing this news with the people down below, to remind them that the war had only just begun. However in a rare moment of reflection, the commander of NERV stayed silent. They needed their morale boost, after all. Let them have their superficial party.

As the cheering continued and everyone patted each other on the backs, Rei's voice crackled in through the radio "Major Misato, I do not see subject Asuka anywhere. Did she flee the area already?"

The room immediately went silent. In all of their celebration, they had forgotten about the orange haired girl. Misato began to choke up. From her omniscient viewpoint, Ritsuko could already see that her friends was going to take this personally. And indeed, she was.

The purple haired commander felt a single hot tear in her eye as it dawned onto her what had happened to Asuka. Today, she had let a young girl rush to her death. A thousand thoughts flooded her mind, all of them having the commonality of what she could have done to keep the vibrant girl alive. None of them had the effect of altering the past. Misato Katsuragi was a failure as a commander, and she had to tell Rei what had happened. She opened her mouth to give the bad news.

 _"Oh, there she is."_ said Rei before Misato spoke.

Curious, Ritsuko quickly provide a visual of where Rei was pointing at. In the center of the crater the Angel made with its six swords, much to the surprise of everyone in the room was an unconscious Asuka. Every person in the room widened their eyes to the point where they nearly flew out of their sockets. A few gasped from the sheer shock of it all, still more stammered from the loss of words.

Gendo raised an eyebrow. Today was a rare day indeed that he could be surprised by something.

 _"But… how!?"_ Dr. Akagi ran the calculations through her quantum mind, _"That explosion should have killed her… how did…"_

Actually, a lot of things didn't add up. Ritsuko keenly noted that Rei had recovered from her injuries faster than usual and that the Angel twice had stopped itself in the middle of its attack. And now, Asuka had shown up miraculously alive when every single quantum calculation said it should be otherwise. None of it made any sense.

At the former battle zone, Rei stared at Asuka's unconscious form. From the state of the discussion, the blue haired girl gathered that this super girl had been caught in an explosion she shouldn't have survived. Yet, here she was, not only alive but almost fully healed. Many of her previous wounds had all but vanished, leaving her with little more than bruises. Rei could think of only one answer to why.

 _"I can… help get you healed in time. But you have to promise me something." said the brown haired boy wearing a tattered trench coat, "You have to promise not to tell anyone about me. I was never here."_

 _The malformed Rei/titan hybrid looked curious "Although I am confused, these conditions are agreeable, provided you can in fact aid my recovery." It was only now that Rei realized her communicator wasn't working. The device was still intact, but it appeared to have been shut off somehow._

 _"I heard you say you can heal fast, right?" said the boy "Then…"_

 _Suddenly, the world seemed to rush. Rei felt strange sensations- everything became more purple in appearance, the Angel who she had fought was moving slower, but her every action seemed to be sped up, including her healing capabilities. She felt her body go numb, so her consciousness was a blur during this time. Yet in mere moments, the world snapped back to its rightful place and the girl became fully conscious once more. The sensations faded away._

 _Moreover, Rei's injuries had completely vanished. The girl flexed her fingers, testing them to be sure, but there was no doubt: She had made a full recovery. From her half formed state she stared at the boy, who still wasn't the least bit frightened of her ghastly appearance "How…?"_

 _"I'll help you guys whenever I can." said the boy before vanishing._

Rei had a promise to keep, so she feigned ignorance. "I do not know how Asuka survived the explosion. There is nothing I can think of which would have allowed to survive and recover from her previous energies. This is not a lie."

Before Dr. Akagi could question what that meant, Misato interrupted her, back to her usual cheery self. Loudly and proudly, the black swordswoman declared that the Angel was dust with no casualties, making this battle a complete victory for humanity. She broke out the champagne and everyone cheered more from that. Ritsuko decided to let go of her questions for now and simply told Rei to get Asuka back to the hospital, to which the blue haired girl complied.

Meanwhile, several stories below the command center, Fuyutsuki stood in a dark room, staring at a glowing red button. He was waiting for orders. Things had been quiet now, which for Gendo was a good sign. His suspicions were confirmed when his superior radioed in: _"Rei is alive and well."_

"Good." replied the vice commander. He shut off the machine and the red button stopped glowing, retreating into a metal crevice inside the super-computer. The elderly commander sighed, giving one last look at the stasis tubes filled with green liquid and black forms, before heading back to the elevator. The less time he stayed in that awful room, the better.

"So, did we win?" Fuyutsuki asked as he boarded up.

 _"Of course. Our victory against the first Angel was never in any doubt."_ replied Gendo.

"Of course."

* * *

 _"Poor Sachiel."_ said a voice within the ether, _"I really hoped that we would end this with the first battle. It would even be better for the lillin, to die quickly than to suffer a prolonged one."_

 **"I'M SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT YOU CARE ABOUT THE PRIMATES."** spoke another voice.

 _"Don't look too deep into it. I simply wish to fulfill the will of Adam as soon as possible."_

 **"ONCE I AM [BORN/MATERIALIZED], THIS SHALL COME TO PASS. WITH THE BATTLE DATA GATHERED BY SACHIEL, I NOW KNOW THEIR WEAKNESSES. THE LILLIN WILL NOT STAND A CHANCE AGAINST ME."**

 _"See that you do, Shamshel. The sooner that we can end this farce, the better."_


	3. Heroes

He limped his way over to the door of the house, wincing with each movement. That last action with the Angel, stopping all six of its arms, had taken all the energy he could muster and then some. The backfire of drawing too much energy caused his body to crack and bleed in several places, though it had mostly stopped now. Still, Shinji was willing to bet that if Rei had made her move even a second later, he would have died from strain.

Groaning, he opened the door to the house. He had made it back in record time thanks to the power, meaning he could fake being at home the entire time before Misato came back. The only people who knew he was involved the night's events were Pen-Pen and that blue haired titan-girl from before. He hoped she would keep the promise- NERV absolutely could not know who and where he was.

The injured boy finally sprawled onto his futon with the grace of a two-legged cat. Just as he was about to retire his consciousness for the night, he turned to face the ceiling and met the glowing face of a beaming muscular man.

"So! despite what some may say, you DO have the ambition to resist this world's laws!"

"Not now…" moaned the boy "I'm so tired, just let me rest…"

Yet the golden armored man persisted. He hovered to the side of Shinji sideways, resting on the air "You will NOT rest." announced the specter, "For this… this is where your training truly begins Shinji! From here on out, you will gain the skills to become a conqueror!"

Shinji was too tired to respond, so he let the pharaoh prattle on about his usual spiel of world domination.

"Why, just imagine it!" grinned the man grandiosely, "Today you stopped an Angel! Tomorrow you will stop the world and make it bend to your whims! This is the destiny of Shinji, as foretold by myself!" decreed the man, spreading his arms into the air and letting his light penetrate the room. Or at least, it would have if the man physically existed.

"Stop it." the brown-haired boy said weakly, "You know I don't actually have any powers…"

"Irrelevant details." The golden man stroked his chin thoughtfully. "After you conquer the world you will need to choose a capital. Yes, Japan is familiar, but perhaps China or even Antarctica to make a bold statement. Hm! Indeed, you should choose Antarctica, for the desolate land would be the perfect palace for your orders to diffuse into the world."

Now standing up, the joyful man spread his arms in imaginary triumph "I can see it now! The planet's denizens, eager to receive orders from their master, and from the point where Second Impact began, you shall bestow them! Your reign will be long, prosperous, and all would-be enemies shall be-!"

The man stopped, realizing that the boy was already asleep, knocked out from the events of the day. "Feh. I'll convince him yet." decreed the pharaoh-looking man. Deciding to give the future world conqueror an earned rest, the golden man did not invade his dreams this night and instead vanished back into the depths of Shinji's soul.

* * *

Shinji woke up with a jolt. The boy was drenched in sweat and he felt his heart pounding, a feeling of dread was washed over his body. He felt like he had dreamt about the past but couldn't remember it. Probably better that way- the sooner he could forget, the better.

Still, the boy got up and tried to cheer himself up. The events of the previous night flooded his brain, along with all he did. Though he was terrified the entire time he went up against the mighty Angel, the boy couldn't seem to regret any of what he did last night. After all, he thought, there were more than a few people who he had been able to save. The ones in shelter 21 would have had a hard time fighting off those odd mini-Angels.

But moreover, he had managed to save Asuka from certain annihilation. She and everyone else couldn't have guessed that it was him who carefully moved the girl out of harm's way- and Shinji would keep it that way. The fact that there was one person he knew for sure he had saved gave him an inkling of hope that maybe he wasn't such a bad guy. Just as he thought this, an image of his mother resurfaced in his mind.

Shinji walked out of his room and away from his memories.

Down the short hallway and into the kitchen, the boy was genuinely surprised to see Misato cooking. Well, cooking was a long shot- she was just heating up some frozen something or other and piling up stacks of it onto a plate. It smelled good at least. Quietly, the boy walked over to examine this item, finding an emptied box written in English.

"'Pancakes'?" the boy mouthed. No doubt another foreign cuisine Misato had picked up on during her travels.

"Shinji!" The purple haired woman noticed him, ran over and tried to give him a huge hug. However, the boy warped out of her way and Misato nearly tripped. Normally this is when the commander of NERV would chastise Shinji once again for his haphephobia, but this time she just smiled and said, "I'll get you one of these days!"

She motioned to a chair and insisted that Shinji sit in it- to which he obliged. She placed a stack of the 'pancakes', covered in strawberries and drizzled with what appeared to be maple syrup, right in front of the boy and urged him to eat.

Once again, the brown haired obliged, cutting a bite sized piece from the mountain of food and placed it in his mouth. It was fluffy and sweet. Misato smiled at him in such a warm manner that Shinji was forced to comment upon the situation "It's… good. Um… I don't think I can eat all of that though…"

"Nonsense! You're a growing boy and you need your nutrients!"

Shinji greatly suspected that whatever he was eating contained none of that, but Misato was very happy today, so he didn't voice his concerns, instead delicately eating his foreign breakfast. "So… you're in a really good mood."

Misato beamed at him "Yeah I am! We beat the first Angel, which is why tonight, we celebrate with booze!"

The fact that she did that every night would not deter her from enjoying the celebration. Lightly humming to herself, she began to pile on more pancakes on his plate, gleefully adding to his already enormous large stack. "Y'know…" Misato said in a soft voice "Ritsuko's having a bit of a problem."

"Dr. Akagi?" questioned Shinji.

"Yeah. Seems like while we weren't looking, somebody caused the Angel to completely stop moving at least twice." grinned the commander, "Not to mention there were a series of unexplained incidences all over Tokyo-3. Poor Ritski can't figure out what happened…"

Shinji gulped. His cover had been blown in less than 24 hours.

"I wonder who it was that saved everyone in the 21st shelter…?" Misato trailed off, despite already knowing the answer. The brown-haired boy became very nervous and very red. "P-Please don't tell."

Misato looked like she was about to say something, but instead sighed. She walked over to Shinji and placed her elbows on the table, staring at him. "I know. I know. But look, would it kill you to take a little bit of credit?"

"Toji did most of the work, all I did was point them to the basement." said the boy, unable to look his guardian in the eye. Misato pursed her lips, as if trying to form words but being unable to. Luckily, Shinji spoke for her "But… I think I saved Asuka… if that counts…"

The smile returned. "Heck yeah that counts! So that calls for another celebration: I'll buy enough alcohol for us both!"

"I'm underage…"

"No one cares!" Misato railed. Pen-Pen, who had just come in drinking a small cup of sake, added a hearty 'Wark-Wark!' to her comment. "See? Pen-Pen drinks and he's underaged!"

"He's also a penguin and I still don't know how he does that…" Shinji retorted, watching in wonder as said avian gulped down the tiny cup and let out a satisfied sigh. Getting used to Pen-Pen's strange mannerisms did nothing to make them less strange. The brown-haired boy turned back to his guardian, wanting to clarify some things:

"Listen… Misato. I… what happened last night was a one time thing," said Shinji in a serious voice "I… I don't think I could do it again. I can't… be brave and fight the Angels like you."

The catastrophe last night had shaken Shinji to his very core. When he saw the news of Shelter 21, he tried his hardest to work up an inkling of courage to save the civilians. He could not do it. He was shaking in fear the entire time and only managed to hide the attacked people in secret basement area located beneath each shelter.

After Toji had come, Shinji was practically elated to pass the job to someone else. He made up a quick excuse to run away and the athlete bought it. From there, the brown-haired boy had only one thought on his mind: to find Misato and get them both out of Tokyo-3.

This plan was thwarted when the Angel came in between him and NERV. The thing had nearly detected him several times, and each time the boy felt a wave of terror wash over him, stopping him in his tracks. He saw the titan girl, Rei, bravely fight off the apocalyptic being on equal footing, not faltering in the slightest even with her body destroyed. He saw the ideal idol of his class, Asuka, give everything she had to pound the Angel into submission without regard of her own life.

He envied them. He truly did. He wished he was even half as courageous as the two women. But the facts of the matter were clear: when Shinji has he opportunity to do good, he froze. He couldn't get near the Angel, he couldn't use his weak powers to do anything to help Misato. The best the boy offered was healing Rei, but only when she was thrown well outside the Angel's sensory range. He was a total coward, plain and simple.

Except…

Except… when the Angel hit Asuka… when it was about to kill her with its beam…

Shinji's body moved on its own. Despite his terror, it moved. It saved her with its powers. He couldn't explain it. And that wasn't even the only incident.

* * *

 _After setting the unconscious girl beside him, he saw the blue titan assault the apocalyptic being with everything she had. Left hook, right straight, lightning blade. The Angel absorbed the attacks and more, eventually counterattacking the kaiju with a serious of furious blows that Rei could not recover from. She would lose at this rate._

 _Shinji's body moved on its own again. It tried to use its powers on the Angel, to try and prevent it from hurting humanity's savior. And by sheer stroke of luck, the Angel stopped moving for a solid half second. That half second was the difference between life and death- Rei seized the opportunity and blasted the Angel's pulsing core with a lightning cannon._

 _The Angel fired back and destroyed the titan's entire body. Shinji fell to his knees, his actions all for naught. He turned to his side, where Asuka lay sleeping. Her injuries were severe, too severe for him to heal completely. With both girls out of commission, there would be no way to stop the monster from destroying Tokyo-3. Misato would be killed. The brown-haired boy trembled in fear._

 _But then, a shining light. Rei, in a new body, had stabbed the Angel in the back with another lightning blade. Shinji observed that the new titan body was malformed, broken and barely working. With each blow it decayed further, broke more of its bones, seared more skin off. And yet despite the pain she must have felt, despite the clear difference in strength between the two, Rei fought on. She was giving the fight all she had, even her own life._

 _And in response to her efforts, the agent of destruction used all six of its hands to summon a massive blade of energy, big enough to slice the city in half. The blue haired titan could do nothing in response. Rei, Asuka, Misato, NERV… humanity had done everything they could to kill the the Angel and it wasn't enough._

 _That was when Shinji snapped. He snapped at the realization of how unfair the world was. These two brave women, these individuals who were so much better than him had tried their best to save the planet, and even with all their power it wasn't enough. Even with all their abilities, all their resources, tactics and courage, they could not stave off their own destruction._

 _It wasn't fair. It wasn't right._

 _And so, gazing upon Asuka's limp form and Rei's broken body, Shinji became angrier than he had ever been. He raised his hand at the terrifying beast from beyond and uttered a single word, a statement of rejection towards a universe wishing for their indiscriminate deaths:_

" _No."_

 _Shinji bled from every corner. Cracks opened in his body, his skin started to peel off and and his brain hurt. The backlash from trying to go against the planet's scheduled demise pained his mortal body. This was the world's answer to the boy's pathetic attempt to defy it._

 _Shinji didn't give a damn and pressed harder. And harder after that, his feral anger giving him terrifying power. He roared. He screamed. He shouted at the monster even when his lungs ran out of air, perfectly imitating the fighting spirit of the two girls before him._

 _And so, Angel's arms slowed. And they slowed. And then before the moment of impact, stopped completely. For a split second, he felt the Angel quiver in fear, unable to move its arms. In that split second, Rei attacked the agent of destruction one last time and forced it to bleed. After that, he saw white and black flashes, and he could swear he could hear joyous laughter from a certain ethereal man._

 _For the next few seconds, Shinji's body hurt and his head was cloudy. He didn't know whether or not he was alive. Eventually he reasoned that if he was wondering whether or not he was dead, he wasn't dead yet. He turned to his side, Asuka was still breathing. He turned to the front, Rei wasn't dead either._

 _He turned to the center of the city and saw the Angel had exploded._

 _That was good._

 _Shinji quickly used the last of his powers to warp Asuka back to the site where she was 'killed', in order to make it look like she had never left. He still had no idea what he did, how he did it, or why he bothered to save people if he was so scared. But at the very least, fairness had been restored. The girls won their victory._

* * *

That was… that was a fluke. There was no way he could do something like that again. Not only because his body would no doubt break, but because of his nature as a coward. He had never been that angry in his life, and it genuinely scared him how ferocious he was during the attack. He couldn't do that again. He could not be angry again, because if he did… if he did…

A cold chill ran throughout Shinji's entire body. He could not be angry again.

"I…" the boy finally spoke, "I'm sorry… but I can't be brave like you."

To his surprise, Misato smiled warmly at Shinji. She knelt, reaching for his hand before pausing before the touch. It seemed like she had something to say "Shinji. I understand. I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but I too-"

The sound of an alarm jolted the both of them. The purple haired woman looked towards the clock, realizing that it was 7:35 AM. This realization halted her prior train of thought and gave way to a more pertinent one: "Shinji! Go to school!"

The boy blinked. "We still have school after an Angel attack?"

"Yep, yep, yep!" Hurried Misato, grabbing Shinji's backpack, bento and shoving them both into his hands and trying to shove him by the backpack out the door. "You especially need to go today!"

"Huh? Why is today so important?"

"You'll see…" the woman winked at him. This gesture, coming from Misato, meant either one of two things. One, she was about to find some way to tease him about his downright annoying hormones which made him constantly aware of the opposite sex, then proceed to ask why he hadn't pursued a girlfriend option given 'all the lovely ladies at your school~!'. Or two, she wanted him to do something that would be dangerous, stupid or both, and was purposely omitting details to get him to do so.

Because Misato hadn't given him directions to a liquor store, Shinji assumed it was the former. He didn't know how or why he would be teased this time, but that was the only option left given the Misato Wink.

"… Alright, I guess I'll get going then." said Shinji nervously.

"And don't use your powers today to hide from people!"

Now that was just uncalled for. The boy protested, "But Misato! I have to protect my identity!" Also, most of his classmates thought he was creepy and didn't want to associate with him. Shinji did not think this was unfair.

"No buts." Proclaimed his guardian in her Serious Misato Mode. Shinji gulped but complied, a single look telling him not to go against this order. He swore he would only use his powers to get to school on time and after that, he he wouldn't use them unless absolutely necessary. This was good enough for the purple haired woman, who returned to being cheerful and wished him a good day. The boy nervously waved back, not knowing what to expect on this seemingly innocuous trip to Tokyo-3 High.

* * *

Everyone could tell that today was going to be a very interesting day for the school. Never mind the fact that they had all survived an Angel attack- it was clear that certain events had conspired to put anything and everything interesting in the only class of Tokyo-3 High.

The first domino that fell was Toji, entering the room covered in bruises and some bandages. He was clearly trying to be serious and nonchalant about the whole thing, but one look at his face told you he was giddy to share in whatever exploits happened the day before. The students were all too happy to oblige and surrounded him for question bombardment, especially the ones who had seen him defeat a NERV officer and leave the shelter.

"Toji what happened to you!?" someone asked.

"What happened after you ran away?" wondered another.

"TOJI!" A shrieking girl's voice drowned out all other questions. Within seconds of his arrival, Hikari Horiaki stood from her desk, walked to Toji and thumped a binder over his head with a gratuitous-sounding smack.

"Ow! What was that for!?" the boy shouted.

"For being an idiot!" Hikari shouted back.

"Huh? I just saved my family!" Toji huffed, "If you think I was gonna let those creatures at my little sister, then you're the stupid one!"

His childhood friend whacked him again with the binder "I was worried… you idiot!"

Toji was about to perform a classical teenage knee-jerk response but gave pause when he saw that Hikari really did have a worried look on her face. Her cute mouth was twisted into concern, and her eyes looked like they were watered from last night. The young man closed his mouth and forced himself to calm down. He placed a sturdy hand on Hikari's shoulder "I'm fine. A couple of stupid tiny angels ain't enough to beat me. I'm tougher than that and you know it."

His reassuring smile melted Hikari's heart. She was still angry at the teen's recklessness but then again, she supposed, that was why Toji was Toji. She gave him one final smack with her binder, lightly this time. "You have to be more careful. Look at your injuries."

"The bastards caught me by surprise." explained the red suited man, "Next time, I'll be ready for 'em!"

At this point, everyone's patience had reached their limit and the high school students demanded to know what had happened to Toji. The athlete began to weave his tale, how after he escaped from the designated shelter he ran immediately to shelter 21, where his family was. There, he found the place was completely abandoned and he feared the worst- but after calling out for his sister, she responded. His family and the rest of the shelter's denizens had hidden away in a basement below, safe.

From there, Toji recalled how he had to fight off the mini-Angel's that had spawned from Sachiel. There was an entire army of them ready to slash his precious little sister and reliable father to ribbons but the teen had intervened and cut them down instead. He was especially proud of his improvised tornado, claiming it was his new special technique.

"Whoa, so you defended the shelter from those monsters all on your own!?" Questioned Midori of the school's Newspaper Club. "That's so cool!" She cried, furiously scribbling down notes for the next article.

"Well, not exactly." Toji started, "I didn't do it all on my own. I had help, that's why everyone was hiding in the basement, see? He got there before me, beat up a few and got my family and the others to safety."

"Who?" asked Hikari.

"I had help… from him." Toji pointed backwards to the back corner of the classroom, to a desk deliberately placed far away from every other one. Sitting there was Shinji Sekai, the famed Invisible Boy of Tokyo-3 High, who gave them a nervous look after being spotted.

A couple of the students blinked, just to make sure what they were seeing wasn't an illusion. Shinji had not only shown up to class, but he wasn't using his weird powers to hide from them. He was there in plain sight, if only just barely judging by how he fidgeted from the sudden attention.

"He's real…" one student murmured.

"And creepy." said another.

"Hey, hey." Toji interrupted them sternly, "He ain't creepy. He saved my family so that makes him okay in my book."

He stared right at Shinji and smiled, causing the boy to awkwardly smile in return, then shift away in hopes that everyone would forget he existed. It was too late for that though; the students were staring straight at the invisible boy. Intrigued by his mysterious nature, a few of them, especially Midori, wanted to speak with him in this rare opportunity, to find out what his role was during last night's Angel attack. However, Shinji's entire demeanor made him unapproachable and no one wanted to make the first move in talking to the creepiest kid in class. Toji apparently didn't mind being associated with him, but the others…

A pair of fists banged upon a desk, the noise startling the other students. It was Asuka, who was scowling, partly because no one had even noticed she arrived, partly because she was Asuka. She was also covered in bandages like Toji, but fewer in number. Nevertheless, she somehow looked more injured than the energy constructor.

She stood up ferociously, if such a thing could be possible, shocking several of the students. Her attention was on a single person: The Invisible Boy in the back. Shinji met her gaze and gulped in fear. Without further ado, she stomped over to the boy's desk, crossing her arms. The invisible boy stood perfectly still, hoping that Asuka's vision was based on motion.

There were a few seconds of tense silence, all the students watching intently with their breaths abated in anticipation. The orange-haired super stared angrily at the brown-haired boy, who was already regretting his promise not to use his powers for escaping. Finally, the standstill was broken.

"You." said Asuka accusingly.

"Um…" Shinji tried to start but was interrupted by the girl: "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Um-"

"Don't deny it!" she snapped.

"U-Um-"

Asuka was having none of his denial, banging her fists on his desk. "I know it was you who did it! I still can't figure out HOW but I KNOW you did it!"

"Um…!?" Before Shinji could reply properly she turned away from him angrily. "Whatever! I don't care anyway!" huffed the young woman, going back to her own desk, sitting and fuming. The boy was now very, very confused. The rest of the classroom were all too eager to fill in the details, imaginary or not, with their rumors. The Newspaper Club was having a field day.

The next few minutes were relatively normal, with the students in the class eagerly discussing today's events. Toji had become a hero overnight, Shinji had shown up to class and apparently helped with Toji's heroics and now Asuka was really mad at the Invisible Boy. From the last one alone several rumors had already formed; A beautiful powerhouse being mad at a creepy kid practically wrote potential situations by itself. It was fun for the whole class to speculate what had transpired between the two.

A three way stare-down came in between the three students in question. First was Toji smiling at Shinji and trying to be friendly with the man who saved his family, only to then glare at Asuka for picking on Shinji the next second. Asuka glared at both Shinji and Toji at given intervals, mostly Shinji. And the invisible boy himself really wished to live up to his moniker and avoid the whole situation entirely.

Then the teacher entered the room and what would normally be a mood killer of student gossiping instead put gasoline on the already enormous bonfire of chatter.

"Class, please take your seats." Announced Mrs. Nazemaka. She pursed her rounded glasses up a little bit before going into the meat of things, "It… appears as though we have a new student. She will be joining us for the foreseeable future, so please be sure to treat her well for the remainder of the semester."

Murmurs. The only reason the current student body attended this school was because NERV forced them to. Their potential powers were a hypothetical war asset. If not, who would be dumb enough to transfer to an educational establishment right next to the biggest warzone on the planet?

"Class, please welcome… Rei Ayanami."

Everybody in the school let out a collective gasp as said woman entered the room. The whole student body knew of the girl who stood up to an Angel and singlehandedly turned it into dust. Hell, the entire world knew who she was at this point- and such a celebrity was attending their class!

She walked monotonously into the front of the class, stood perfectly still beside the chalkboard and gave a standard military salute. Her blue hair and pink eyes gave off an ethereal feel, her stern yet soft gaze making it clear that her status and powers were leagues above them. Here was what the students strived to be: a true warrior wielding such immense power that it even made the gods shake in fear.

However, the class was confused about one detail: Rei was wearing her combat bodysuit. The blue uniform with glowing yellow trimmings added to her appearance as humanity's defender but looked incredibly out of place where everyone else wore school uniforms. Still, the skintight suit showed off Rei's figure quite nicely and left little to the imagination, so at least half the class was happy for the surprise.

"Rei… what are you wearing?" asked the teacher hesitantly, she as bewildered as the class was.

"I was told that in order to attend public school, I must wear a uniform. Therefore, I have worn my uniform." stated Rei plainly, giving a quick salute to her superior.

The teacher had been told that this girl was an odd one. That information was correct, it seemed. "Rei, dear… you are required to wear a school uniform to school. Not this… battle uniform."

The girl blinked. She had just figured out why Dr. Akagi sent her clothes this morning despite the fact that Rei already had clothes. "My apologies, sensei, I will go retrieve my school uniform immediately."

"No, that's fine for now. We have to start class." The black-haired teacher stopped the girl before she bolted, "Just promise to wear your school uniform from now on, okay?"

"Acknowledged."

The teacher let out a below audible sigh, "So, Ms. Ayanami, would you please introduce yourself to the class?"

"Understood, sensei." The blue haired girl quickly turned to the rest of the class and politely bowed. "I am Rei Ayanami."

There was a silence in the classroom. The blue haired savior apparently thought that was enough. The teacher decided to try and force Rei to socialize with the other human beings: "Normally, the new student introduces themselves by giving a small speech about who they are…"

"Acknowledged." stated the girl, "I am Rei Ayanami. I killed the first Angel and I will kill the others in order to protect humanity. That is all."

Despite possibly being the bluntest speech ever conceived by _Homo sapiens_ , the classroom cheered anyway. They were just happy that the Angel killer was standing in the same room as them. As the students gave her the sitting version of a standing ovation, Rei scanned the room to identify potential threats, allies and to ascertain the structure of this foreign area known colloquially by the people as 'school'.

She quickly identified Asuka, who was glaring at her, and gave the orange haired super a small nod to indicate their familiarity as fellow defenders. Asuka muttered something in German under her breath and then whipped her head around so as to not face her. Odd Ally.

Toji was the next person she spotted, unable to clap for her given his injured arm but nonetheless looking proud at her. NERV was in the process of observing this man due to the fact that he had taken out several of the smaller Angels yesterday. Rei made a mental note to carefully observe this man. Potential Ally.

The girl's eyes went through each and every student, memorizing their faces and general demeanors. There were no potential enemies to be identified, which put her at ease. And then, in the very back of the classroom was an all too familiar individual. Rei's eyes widened when she spotted the brown-haired boy who had saved her, trying his best not to be seen by her gaze. Definite Ally.

"There are a couple of empty seats, so pick any one you would like." said Mrs. Nazemaka, interrupting Rei's train of thought. The blue haired girl immediately knew which one to pick. Without hesitation she walked over and sat in the desk directly in front of Shinji Sekai. This raised a few eyebrows from the class, as well as their teacher who had just realized the Invisible Boy showed up for class.

When Rei sat down right in front of him and the rest of the class eyed him suspiciously, Shinji internally screamed. He could feel their eyes boring through his skull, giving him judgmental gazes.

And then Rei turned around. "Hello, person who I do not know. Although I have no idea who you are, I think you must be a good person. What is your name?"

Before Shinji could bang his head on the desk so hard he would hopefully get a concussion, one of the students interrupted Rei's greeting. "Hey… Ayanami…" said one student in front of her, a blonde-haired teen "You're new here so you wouldn't know but uh, you probably shouldn't sit next to that guy."

"Why not?"

The boy blinked "He's, well, he doesn't like to be near people. You're probably bothering him." That, and the student body did not want Rei's first introduction to their class being the creepiest kid who had ever lived.

Rei turned towards the brown-haired boy and asked, "Am I bothering you?" in a straightforward manner. Shinji really wanted to say yes. He really wanted Rei to get on with her life without him. But there was something in her eyes, a mix of curiosity and disappointment. For whatever reason, she was trying to connect with him, and he knew if he told her 'yes', she would surely be let down.

And so, begrudgingly, the Invisible Boy stuttered out "N-No."

"Good." said Rei, something resembling a smile on her face. The rest of the students of the classroom had the opposite reaction.

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

After a long day of mulling over paperwork, processing hundreds of data sheets and sending any relevant combat data to Misato, Ritsuko's alarm rang out and reminded her she had to go to a meeting one hour from now. The doctor groaned.

"Maya! Take care of the rest of this!" she shouted into the air "…I have to go to a press conference…" she muttered under her breath.

"Will do!" replied Maya from somewhere, also swamped beneath papers.

Ritsuko Akagi began the slow process of dressing up to meet the needs of what society deemed 'cleanliness', even though her lab coat only had a few stains on it and her hair was just a bit frazzled. Yet, she could not ignore orders from the great Gendo Ikari, Eternal Perpetuator of Annoyance.

Really, if the man was so concerned about public opinion, why not go there himself?

Nevertheless, one hour later at 1:30 PM, the doctor had managed to scramble together a clean lab coat, pull her hair into an official-looking bun, polished her face with makeup according Maya's instructions and arrived at the stupid event with whoever else Gendo had roped in.

She quickly noted that among the NERV staff, Makoto and Shigeru had also been ordered to attend. They seemed better than she did, with the bespectacled man writing a speech and the Casanova all too eager to perform for it. Ritsuko was just happy that she didn't have to talk for hours on end, although it was inevitable that they'd turn to her for any technical questions.

"Oh, this is perfect." Decreed Shigeru, his straight grey hair flowing down to his shoulders in an appropriately dramatic manner. "This speech will not only assure them all but enamor the press to our cause. A speech worthy for kings, Makoto."

"Oh, thank you!" The dark blue haired man eagerly took in up his co-worker's praise. Out of everyone on their weird team, Makoto was the most plain looking of them all: glasses, clean and unwrinkled uniform, generic smile, ordinary hair, the list went on. Nothing about him really stood out, but Akagi had learned that appearances could be deceiving, and in Makoto's case, especially so.

When Misato had insisted he be on the elite squad directly commanding armies against titans of mass destruction, the doctor initially brushed it off as one of her drunken ramblings. Then she saw what Makoto could do and her mind was changed instantly. For a person without powers he was incredibly unique, even if he didn't show it.

Shigeru was another person Akagi was skeptical about at first. Although he was one of the rare people born with powers prior to second impact, that alone didn't qualify him to lead the charge against the Angels. In fact, Misato had tried very hard to convince Akagi that Shigeru and his… incredibly odd ability… was worth an investment. It actually hadn't been up to her: Gendo of all people was the one who finally let Shigeru in.

So far, the tall grey-haired man hadn't caused any problems. But honestly, Ritsuko still couldn't bring herself to trust him. Still, he got along with everyone else just fine, so maybe he wasn't all bad.

"Idea!" announced Shigeru, broadening his arms "At the end of the speech, I shall play my guitar and turn this morose event into a rock concert of splendor!"

It took them a while to convince the man that a musical spectacle probably wasn't very good for a debriefing of last night's attack. After another thirty minutes or so, a crowd of hundreds had gathered in front of their brightly lit podium. From a small stage with NERV's banner in carefully picked locations, the event began.

Shigeru gave his speech minus the rock concert and even the doctor had to admit it was pretty good. The grey-haired man told the public of NERV's endeavors during the attack, what Rei and Asuka had been doing, as well as the steps that needed to be taken in order to better prepare for the next Angel.

More so, he was able to reassure the somewhat panicked crowd of humanity's strength. He emphasized the bravery of the men and women of NERV, whether in the base or on the field. He wove them a melodic tale of humanity struggling against their oppressors, and how they could in fact defeat the apocalyptic beings on their doorstep. He did it so well that Ritsuko honestly didn't know whether or not his power was activated.

Much to the relief of the staff, the conference was proceeding smoothly. The people's fears were assuaged and confidence in NERV was high again, exactly where they needed it to be. Ritsuko drowned out most of the speeches made by the soldiers, Makoto and the others as she was still focused on the data from last night and what Rei had told her yesterday.

Eventually though, it was her turn. "And now, Dr. Akagi will answer any specific or scientific questions you may have." She stood up, tried to seem not bored and attended the podium, Makoto bowing out politely.

Her blue eyes met the gaze of hundreds of individuals. Most were from the press, some of them were foreign diplomats, still others were fellow scientists. She looked towards the cameras pointed at her, reminding the doctor that this event was being televised around Japan, possibly the globe, meaning that the hundreds she saw were a fraction of actual audience.

Some may have faltered at this thought but some of Ritsuko's nerves were literally made of steel. "Hello. I am Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, director of NERV's Research and Development, overseer of the metahuman training program and weapons division, as well as the human interface for the MAGI." She began, letting a slight pause for her credentials and status to sink in. "I realize that you have questions, but before we begin I would like to formally state what we have learned during the Angel attack from a scientific perspective."

This seemed to be acceptable to her audience, so the holder of multiple PHD's continued: "Some have complained that we were caught flat-footed during the attack, that evacuations were done too late and that our forces were not mobilized in time. These are reasonable claims but I would like to state why this was the case."

She breathed, "Our forces were mobilized too late because we had predicted the Angel would attack next week. We were in the process of getting ourselves together when the Angel decided to interrupt us one week early. Unfortunately, this was unavoidable. As most of you know, most of the Dead Sea Scrolls remains undecipherable and what we do know sometimes makes little sense.

"For instance, the first Angel attack, when read from a different perspective, would have taken place two months from now. From yet another perspective, two years from now. We of NERV decided to lowball what the predictions stated, but apparently that still wasn't enough. In addition, the Scrolls made no mention of how the Angel could create miniature versions of itself. The fact is, we knew little about this threat and there wasn't much that could have been done differently to result in less casualties."

Murmurs among the crowd. Some accepted this explanation, others were still angry for the loss of life during the attack. A total of sixty-seven people died yesterday which statistically was extraordinarily good but personally, 67 families now had to deal with a dead loved one. The sad fact was, they were at war now, so civilian casualties were expected.

Ritsuko continued with the good news: "There is a silver lining to this. Because the MAGI were operational prior to the Angel's attack, we were able to analyze the troposphere around Tokyo-3 and have determined a causal pattern prior to the Angel's emergence from the tentatively named 'aethersphere'." said Ritsuko, before realizing she was speaking technobabble, "What this means is that the MAGI have identified a predictive pattern for when Angel''s appear, thus making it much easier for NERV to know the timetable for any future Angel attacks.

"We have named it 'Pattern Blue', for its appearance when filtered through several energy analyzers. This, as you may have noted, is in stark contrast to the 'Pattern Red' that we humans have. This further confirms that the Angels themselves are alien in origin."

More chattering amongst the press, many of whom were snapping photos and no doubt eagerly writing their next big hit. The scientists of the group were quietly speaking to themselves, and Ritsuko decided to throw them a bone: "NERV extends an offer to any organization willing to look at some of the data we obtained during the last attack; the more hands we have to analyze what we've discovered, the better equipped we will be in this war."

Excited chatter, but the doctor continued: "We have also learned from the attack that the Angels have a core, where they concentrate their AT field and define the rest of their presence in real space. From the preliminary data, we have learned that the Angel's bodies can regenerate almost indefinitely. The only way to truly kill them is to destroy their core. This, obviously, is vital new information and rest assured, our strategic commander Misato Katsuragi is no doubt hard at work at this very moment altering our strategies around this facet."

' _Or getting hammered.',_ thought Ritsuko wryly, _'Or getting hammered while coming up with new strategies.'_

The public didn't need to know that last part, so she ended the speech on a high note "I will not lie to you. We were underprepared and under-informed. But we have learned from our mistakes and we will ensure that humanity survives this war. NERV is dedicated towards preventing third impact."

Applause from the crowd, which satisfied Ritsuko. From there, the questioning began. The first one was something anyone should have seen coming: "Doctor, how will you know where the Angels will attack?"

The blonde scientist had to parse her answer carefully, "Although most of the Dead Sea Scrolls is an ambiguous mess, there are some passages which are clear. One of these is the location: The Angels intend to start Third Impact in the coordinates encompassing Tokyo-3. Specifically, the coordinates inside our very own NERV headquarters. As long as we can destroy the Angels before they reach the innermost sanctum of our base, third impact cannot happen."

Dr. Akagi hated lying to the public, but until they understood the thing in the center of their base more thoroughly, she had to side with Gendo on this one. They couldn't know NERV had Angel bait in its deepest core.

At once, another hand was raised "Do you know the reason why Angels want to go to those coordinates, or how they intend to start Third Impact?"

It would take far too much classified information to answer that question, so the doctor had to lie: "Because we still do not understand how Second Impact happened, we do not at the moment know how the Angels intend to start the third. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls make it clear that the coordinates I have mentioned are key. If the Angels cannot reach them, Third Impact cannot possibly happen.

Some silence after this. Ritsuko hated lying to the populace. Another young reporter raised her hand, "The Angel's smaller copies did not attack in unison with it, instead they seemed to scatter around the city. Does NERV know what the miniature Angels were doing?"

"We are currently reviewing the security footage collected from all over the city," stated Ritsuko, "It seems as though the smaller Angels were intending to stir chaos in the city. That is, distract our personnel and scatter our forces so that the real Angel would have an easier time defeating us. We will have more details later once the all the footage of their actions is found and analyzed."

For a few more seconds, no more hands were raised. Then, an old looking man in a black suit raised his hand: "When will the Dead Sea Scrolls be released to the public?"

Ritsuko internally sighed. This question always seemed to pop up. "As we have publicly stated before, the Dead Sea Scrolls must remain in NERV's possession, so that we can decipher and obtain any information to combat the Angels more effectively. Additionally, the Dead Sea Scrolls are written with foreign energy signatures and exist in a fourth spatial dimension, meaning only we of NERV could possibly make sense of them."

That last part at least, wasn't a lie. They still had no idea how the Scrolls were written, only that their message was encoded in dimensions beyond the four humans interacted with. They were at least five-dimensional in nature but more likely six or seven. NERV barely had technology that could interact with the fourth spatial dimension, much less the other two that were theorized to exist.

Of course, the real reason why they couldn't release the Scrolls was because the public might figure out what actually lay in Antarctica, and what Second Impact really was.

"Are there any other questions?" Ritsuko Akagi scanned the audience, noting that the hands had risen down after the last three had been answered. It seemed as though all questions had been answered, though to what satisfaction she couldn't say. "In that case, we will end with our closing speaker."

Come to think of it, she realized she had no idea who the closing speaker was. Her internal question was answered within seconds as Gendo Ikari appeared to pop into existence right beside her, startling and surprising the doctor. The audience mirrored her reaction, but the commander of NERV didn't seem to know or care about his scary presence.

It was a rare sight to see Gendo Ikari in broad daylight. Orange shades which hid his eyes, a long flowing blood-red trench coat, white gloves and a black under-suit gave him a frightening appearance. Ritsuko noted his skin was much less pallor than usual- he must have just come back from a fresh meal.

The black-haired man quietly thanked the scientist, then took to the podium. Hunched over, he gripped the thing firmly as if it would run away he it didn't. Everyone held their breaths to see what the commander would say.

"We are at war." said the man succinctly, "Do not be mistaken about this fact. These beings, these Angels- a single one of them has the power to wipe out everything humanity has ever accomplished and take the rest of the planet with them. If given the chance, they would kill us all in a heartbeat.

"NERV has been entrusted to deal with these beings because only we stand a chance against them. If we fall, then humanity falls with us. That is why we of NERV will not submit to these repugnant Angels. I restate to you: we are at war. It is a fact that the times of peace that humanity has enjoyed has been brought to an end. But we will prevail. This is another fact that you shouldn't forget."

With an air of menace, Gendo Ikari spoke his final words: "NERV will destroy the Angels. We will shred these monsters into pieces. We will rip and tear… until it is done."

A pointed silence grew across the area, from the wide eyed NERV staff in the back to the sweating audience in the front. Gendo stood up and the air of menace seemed to quiet but a little. Without further adieu he turned and walked away, beckoning Dr. Akagi to come with him. The audience seemed to snap out of their trance as soon as the two exited stage left, as roars echoed behind her. The chattering of the newly invigorated people soon faded as the doctor was escorted into a private limousine along with her commander.

She sat directly opposite to the red cloaked man and with some direction from him, the car began to move. The blonde-haired woman quietly noticed there was no driver in the front seat, the whole vehicle was automated. As they ventured down the city's streets, Ritsuko spoke. "You didn't tell me you were coming."

"Sometimes, surprise can be an asset." The commander of NERV looked out the window, observing the crowds of people they were passing with a satisfactory expression on his bearded face.

"I also noted that during your speech, you forgot to mention that our organization would prevent Third Impact from happening." Ritsuko dared. A single indirect glare from Gendo was enough to silence that topic.

Not being one to waste time with pleasantries, the black-haired man got to the point: "Did you perform the calculations I asked?"

The doctor remained still, but her heart skipped a beat. "Yes. Although we don't have an Angel soul and thus the calculations couldn't be completed fully… from the data we do have, the results are the same as before: it's impossible."

And it was probably a good thing it was impossible, considering the what might happen if it were possible. Not that this would stop the red cloaked mastermind.

"I see. Then Project Fenrir continues." mused the commander of Nerv, gazing out his window again "When is the next scheduled test?"

The blonde-haired scientist quickly looked into some files on her wireless storage. "For the next several weeks, we have several rodent trials running back to back for maximum efficiency."

"I want human trials within the next two weeks."

Shock was on her face, mouth slightly agape. She looked at her superior as if he was crazy and he stared back without emotion. "Human trials? Are you serious? We _still_ don't know what that thing even **is**."

"My hands are tied." stated Gendo simply. And before Ritsuko Akagi could interject, the man shot her a stern look. That one look made the doctor understand what was happening.

Being hooked up to the MAGI and practically being third in command of NERV, Ritsuko Akagi had access to more information than half the governments of the world combined. She had unprecedented and unlimited access to all sorts of secrets, from the mundane to ones that could rip a country apart if let out to the public.

And one day, her curiosity got the better of her. She had nearly found a way into the commander's personal files, and from what little she had seen, shocked her. Although the two had never talked about the incident, an understanding had come between the scientist and the commander: there was someone else. She didn't know who they were or where they operated, but whoever it was, Gendo had to obey their orders.

With this knowledge, Dr. Akagi knew better than to question her leader's policies, especially when he gave her that look. The look of 'Either do this for me, or someone will pay for it.'. The blonde scientist knew that this expression signified a threat to her- but not directly from the black-haired man.

There was a reason, after all, that every single other organization with a dedication to fighting the Angels always met unexpected pitfalls, dissension within their ranks, or even had their CEO's assassinated by unruly criminals. There was a reason only NERV remained to fight the Angels where everyone else had come up woefully short.

The doctor did not know what that reason was. But Gendo Ikari did.

"… Fine. But I want everything contained and secure. Give me one week to set up everything that I need so that an outbreak doesn't happen." said the doctor after a moment's pause. The shadowy commander silently looked into her eyes from behind his orange tinted glasses, carefully observing her.

"…That should work." The man turned away to observe the city, thus ending the conversation. In this new silence, Dr. Akagi realized that she had no idea where he was taking her. Before she could process this thought he interrupted her: "… How is Rei doing?"

He was of course, referring to the fact that the doctor made him promise that if they survived the first Angel attack, humanity's savior would be allowed to attend public school. Since the doctor had won their bet and Fuyutsuki liked the idea, Gendo was forced to comply with their wishes.

The cyborg doctor quickly checked her list of messages and found one from the girl in question. She read it aloud: "Field report to Dr. Akagi and any NERV staff to whom this may concern. Several potential allies discovered. Asuka is moody. Attempting to establish good relations with my teacher and ascertain the perimeter of the area. End report."

Dr. Akagi left out the part about how she was 'trying to talk to a mysterious boy', since that would probably cause their dear leader to short a circuit. On that note, Rei had an interest in boys?

Either way Gendo took all of this in while continuing to gaze outside, so it was impossible to read his facial expression. After relaying what Rei has discovered in school, the man simply nodded his head. Again, the silence came, but this time it was much shorter since they arrived at their destination. It was Ritsuko's small house, just on the outskirts of the city. "Please rest for a couple hours before returning to NERV." the bearded man announced.

The doctor took up Gendo's invitation, exiting the vehicle without another word. The car's door closed and drove away so that the commander of humanity's last bastion could plot even more schemes. Ritsuko Akagi stared in the distance as the car became another blur in her field of vision.

Project Fenrir… what that man wanted to achieve was insanity at best. A catastrophe rivaling that of the Angels at worst. And he entrusted her with the details of said operation.

"Suppose I actually find a way to make it happen…" the doctor breathed, "What would you do then, Ikari…?"

* * *

Fences lay all around her, a byproduct of initially designing the school for non super-powered individuals to keep them from falling off the rooftop. The rest of the area was plain and blank, worn tile and a little gravel adorned the floor, the open sky above. A single door emerged from the center, the only means of exiting and entering the school's rooftop.

The orange haired girl was in such a place. Blue eyes wistfully looking towards the sky, she wished she could be there among the clouds without a care in the world. But she couldn't fly.

So Asuka sat down on the gravelly ground, quietly eating her rice and edamame while letting her anger fester. She hated everyone at the moment, which is why she decided to here alone. She especially hated Gendo Ikari, the bastard commander of NERV. It wasn't her fault. She was just trying to help. She just wanted to turn the Angel into dust.

She just wanted them to see her succeed where all else had failed…

* * *

 _Asuka waited outside the office of Gendo Ikari, the commander of NERV himself. It was six in the morning and the girl was yawning about once every ten seconds. Dressed in school uniform, since she would have to go there next, the orange haired girl did not know why she was here instead of in bed._

 _After a few minutes, Misato Katsuragi, the strategic commander, emerged. She stomped out of the supreme commander's office in a huff, muttering under her breath about "workloads" and "new tactics" and "no beer until done". She very nearly didn't notice Asuka sitting on one of the chairs. "…Huh? Asuka?"_

" _Hi." waved the orange haired girl sleepily._

"… _Why are you here?" wondered the strategic commander._

" _Don't know." the tired girl said simply._

 _Misato turned a tentative eye towards her superior's office. After a brief pause, she waved a friendly goodbye to Asuka. A few seconds after Misato had left, the super girl was called in._

 _Asuka entered the commander's personal quarters. It was much bigger than she expected. Shelves filled to the brim with books in many different languages lay on one wall of the square area. To her left were trinkets of all sorts that she could not identify, as well as what appeared to be some old musty scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls? His desk was wide and imposing, littered with papers in a way that seemed both organized and disorderly at once. The room was dimly lit, with Gendo at its center and his orange glasses shining in the dark straight at her._

 _A single empty chair lay in front of the large obsidian desk. The commander was quiet, unnervingly so. He did not tell Asuka to sit down, but she sat down regardless, stretching as she did so. The black-haired man was silent. Asuka politely waited for him to say something, but nothing happened. He simply continued to stare at her._

 _And finally, after a minute or so of this suffocating silence, he spoke in a stinging voice "I was hoping you would apologize, but it appears as though you are too immature to know your own manners."_

 _The first blow had been dealt and the word 'immature' cut straight into Asuka's heart. She quickly stood up and shouted, "What are you talking abo-!"_

" _ **Sit**_ _." commanded Gendo Ikari in an icy voice that sent shivers down her spine. Asuka was put back into her place, though not of her own volition. His powers were active._

" _You defied my orders. That is called insubordination." explained the black-haired man, fingers cross in front of his mouth. "You nearly caused humanity a loss against the Angel and you don't even have the decency to apologize for it."_

 _Immediately, Asuka went on the defensive, face red with anger "I didn't-! I thought Rei was down and I was going to save her!"_

" _No. You didn't." Gendo snarled, his enlarged canines showing. "You didn't want to save Rei, you wanted to be a_ _ **hero**_ _. Do not lie so brazenly in front me."_

 _The girl gulped, remembering that as long as the commander's power was active, no one could reasonably lie in front of him. The girl tried to speak again but Gendo silenced her with that same power, causing her intended speech of why she was justified to come out as a pathetic gargle of saliva._

" _We are in a war with abominations several times stronger than us. Any mistake that NERV makes will result in the_ _ **Third Impact**_ _, and your palpable ignorance of this fact is a disgrace to everything we stand for." continued the supreme commander, sneering at the young girl "This clear insubordination is in such violation that by all rights, I should get rid of you. Someone who acts like you did last night has no place in this facility, or even in Japan for that matter."_

 _Asuka finally regained her ability to speak and became desperate at the thought of being thrown away like trash. Her eyes and face were red, sweat covered her skin and she desperately shouted back at her commander, "My actions saved Rei! I fought the Angel and nearly destroyed it! How can you just dismiss what I did!?"_

" _Because your actions were even less than worthless and nearly cost us the battle." hissed Gendo, once again seizing control of her body and forcing it silent. He glared directly at Asuka with such menace that the girl, who had touted herself as stronger than anyone, began to fear for her life. She could feel Gendo's presence in her heart and realized in horror that he might just be able to kill her here and now. The pain of his ability coursed through her, and with it she truly felt the commander's malice._

" _Before your ignorant stunt, Strategic Commander Misato Katsuragi, along with the efforts of Dr. Akagi and the MAGI were able to discern a possible weakness within the Angel- the core." began the black-haired man in the shadows, "They were calculating a plan of attack when you acted so brashly and nearly cost us the war in the first battle._

" _You think you were saving Rei? She is stronger than you are and for that matter, a better soldier. If her titan body is destroyed she can merely create a new one with time. The instant it was destroyed, Dr. Akagi had our missiles at the ready to distract the Angel and retrieve Rei. Once Rei was acquired, you would have distracted the Angel further until Rei completed a second body and struck at the core._

" _But that didn't happen, did it? Because before Dr. Akagi launched our arsenal, you dove in recklessly to try and claim victory for yourself."_

 _Asuka choked._

" _The missile launch was delayed because Dr. Akagi didn't want to risk hitting_ _ **you.**_ _You then proceeded to try and take the Angel alone and failing that, nearly burned yourself out trying to kill it. Then Rei… Rei did not proceed to act properly because she was worried for_ _ **your**_ _safety. She was ready to uselessly sacrifice herself in order to rectify your mistake. Do you still not understand,_ _ **child**_ _, that your glory seeking selfishness nearly gave the Angel opportunity to end the world?"_

 _Asuka was angry. She was furious but nothing came out. Even if she could speak, nothing would have been spoken. She held back tears as best she could._

" _We were lucky. Someone or something healed Rei in the middle of your insubordination and the plan was re-salvaged. Without that presence, this conversation would not be happening because you and I would both be dead along with the rest of humanity, including everyone you have ever cared for." finished the supreme commander, pausing to let the consequences of her actions sink in. The girl was gritting her teeth, staring at him defiantly and on the verge of tears._

" _As stated, such an act of insubordination would be grounds to ban you from the entire country." seethed the commander, pausing to adjust his glasses, "…But it seems as though I am in the minority in wanting to see you out. So for now, you stay."_

 _The hold that Gendo had on her was released, and Asuka began gasping for air. As she struggled to regain her senses, the commander continued: "You will not use your abilities for the foreseeable future. You will keep a low profile and not speak about the battle under penalty of law. You will obey every single order that comes from NERV to the letter so so help me, I will decree executive privilege and force you out of my organization."_

 _And then, in a much lower voice, "And when the next Angel appears, you will do exactly as we say. If I deem you a threat to our survival, I will simply launch the missiles at the Angel of my own volition, regardless of whether or not it would kill you too."_

 _Her head was bowed, silent._

" _Do I make myself clear?"_

 _Asuka's heavy breathing masked her sobbing, her lowered face masked the tears in her eyes. "Yes. Sir."_

" _Leave."_

 _She flew out of the commander's office, making sure to cover herself up so no one could see her crimson, tear stained face._

* * *

The super girl gripped the water bottle she was holding so hard it snapped in two. He had called her a child. Called her selfish. Said that she had nearly caused the end of the world. Humiliated her in such a way that the Angel's attempt to kill her was paltry by comparison. She wanted to bash his face in so badly. She wanted to lash out at the world.

But in the end, somewhere deep down, Asuka knew she couldn't do it. The reason the entire ordeal had been so painful was because it was pure, stinging truth. On some level she had to acknowledge the commander's words.

And so here she was, alone and powerless. She kicked the fence in anger and only began even more furious when it didn't shatter into tiny pieces. She couldn't shatter it- doing so would immediately get her deported under the commander's restrictions. The girl couldn't fly into the sky and scream into the heavens for catharsis. She was grounded.

As vile thoughts of revenge filled her head, a sudden knock on the door caught her attention. She turned around, ready to fry whoever it was that wanted to disturb her but softened her stance when she saw that it was just Hikari.

The brown-haired girl walked outside and quietly closed the door behind her, putting a somewhat large rock in its path such that it couldn't open. The gesture was useless in a school full of superpowered individuals but appreciated.

"…How did you know I was here?" questioned Asuka.

"It's the place closest place to the sky." stated Hikari. Wordlessly, the ponytailed girl sat down next to her best friend. "I know that something happened. And I know you don't want to talk about it." deduced the class president, "But I want you to know… I'm here."

Asuka opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She simply nodded her head. The two girls quietly ate their lunch boxes without saying another word, as nothing else needed saying. For a bit, Asuka was able to smile again.

* * *

With a hand over his eyes so that the sunlight couldn't distract him, Toji peered into the distance of the green surroundings. The school was remarkably considerate of the environment and as such, the back of the school was nearly a forest, where bushes, trees and squirrels roamed free. Unfortunately, this also meant it was very easy to hide in.

"I don't see him." said the athlete, slightly disappointed. His friend Kensuke sighed in response. "Shoot! You mean to tell me he actually showed up and I wasn't there to see him?"

"You should have gotten to class on time." Toji retorted. "Speaking of which… why were you so late today?"

Kensuke was typically five or ten minutes late every day, often with the excuse that he saw a perfect shot and hate to take it. But it was very unusual for the brown-haired teen to miss half the day and then to arrive with his backup camera.

"It was the NERV agents! They came to my house and confiscated my camera!" wailed the military nut, "I fought to save my beloved but they were too strong and they took her! And then they searched my house for other cameras and took them too!"

"Whoa, whoa, what did you do Kensuke?" Toji met his gaze with a concerned expression.

"Nothing! I just took some pictures of you when you bopped that NERV guy yesterday at the shelter, and the pictures of the shelter." shrugged the man, "Apparently, that was enough for them to raid my damn house. So twitchy, those guys…"

Toji did not know what to think about that. He scanned the school grounds once again for the man who saved his family, but alas, Shinji Sekai had become as invisible as his moniker implied. "Where'd he go…? I want to thank him properly…"

Unbeknownst to them, the black cloaked boy was hiding in some bushes just a few meters away. Perfectly silent, he waited until Toji and Kensuke moved to another area before he warped deeper into the forest, where he was sure no one could see him.

School had been intense. Everyone's attention was on him thanks to yesterday's deeds and the boy had never felt more uncomfortable in his life. His entire being was built around a low profile, so now that everyone in class had their eyes on him, that low profile was endangered. This fear wasn't simply his haphephobia, it came from the terror of what would happen if NERV ever figured out who he really was.

More specifically, if their supreme commander found out.

Shuddering, the brown-haired boy looked around and found he was, at last, alone. For the next thirty minutes of lunch, Shinji could enjoy the solitude that the forest's shade generously gave him. Here he was safe, away from those judging eyes. Although one pair of eyes, belonging to a Ms. Rei Ayanami, seemed to be beaming at him whenever she met his gaze. It was as if she believed Shinji was a great person who was worthy of whatever imagined heroism she thought of him. He didn't know how to feel about her, much as he was truly glad that Rei was okay considering last night's attack.

Shinji looked upwards, observing the birds. The birds were nice. They didn't judge him, they didn't want anything from him, they just sang their beautiful tunes and minded their own business. One particular bird was singing a glorious song, and Shinji wished he had his violin to compliment the creature. The blue and green speckled avian sat atop a thin tree branch, humming a tune while the boy patiently listened.

"Time for training!"

Shinji's solitude was interrupted by his etherial golden friend. The eight-foot tall man floated just off the ground next to him, arms crossed and gazing at him impatiently. The boy sighed. "Really? Now?"

"You should be grateful I dismissed last night's training. But my patience is not infinite! We shall resume your martial arts training." decreed the pharaoh. Before Shinji could interject, the golden man began to float upward, right next to the blissfully unaware singing avian. Before the boy could protest, the pharaoh gave the bird a good whack and sent it to the ground, greatly injuring the innocent creature.

"You-!" the black cloaked teen started, crouching over the gasping animal.

"Well? Heal it if you so care for the flyer!" shouted the golden man. Shinji didn't really have a choice, so he obliged. He laid a single palm upon the body of the creature and felt for his energy. He was immediately able to sense the creature's form, including the unjust injury it had just incurred.

With great concentration, Shinji began pouring his own AT field into the bird's. A light shone from his open palms, causing the golden man to let out a smirk of satisfaction. Within seconds, the bird's blunt trauma was no more, and its fragile bones were repaired. Startled, the avian immediately flew off as far away as it could. Shinji sighed.

"Not bad." The tall and well muscled spirit observed his protégé, noting with some satisfaction that the boy didn't seem the least bit winded from the effort.

"Do you really have to keep hurting small animals!?" Shinji shot at the spirit.

Nodding, the golden man replied "Smaller creatures are good practice for you. Because of their diminutive stature, they therefore have less cells and are easier to heal. We have been over this have we not?"

Shinji grumbled but didn't say more. The pharaoh had the unfair advantage of being etherial and solid when he needed to, so stopping him was impossible. Speaking of which, the man eyed a fluffy tailed squirrel and once again, smacked it into the ground next to his protégé.

The mammal bled as a result, sprawled helpless on the ground. Shinji ran over and checked it with his aura: broken leg, internal hemorrhage and of course, mental shock. As with the bird, he was able to cure the first two of these afflictions before the thing rightfully ran away. The glow from his hands dissipating, he turned to his imaginary friend and angrily protested "Will you stop!? I just want some peace and quiet today!"

"So that's how you did it." said Rei who was standing intimately behind Shinji and eagerly observing the craft from his shoulder, causing said boy to jump and warp behind a tree from reflex.

"A-A-A-Ayanami!?"

"Affirmative." acknowledged Rei.

"H-How long have you been there!?" gulped the boy in the tattered coat. The blue haired girl replied that she had begun observing when Shinji knelt and applied his healing to the unfortunate squirrel. The brown-haired man glanced at his invisible friend, who merely laughed and vanished back into the depths of the boy's soul.

"They told me you had a mysterious ability. Was it healing others with your touch?" wondered the blue haired girl.

"Erm, no, that's… that's something else." Shinji figured that the cat was out of the bag for this one, so he might as well tell her: "That was a martial art. My master calls it the Ripple… it can be used to heal injuries."

Rei moved closer to him and Shinji stepped back, "My real ability is, um, a secret for reasons…" he told her, even though the truth was he didn't have any powers whatsoever.

"A useful martial art." noted the lithe woman, "I don't suppose you could teach that to me?"

Shinji nervously looked around. "That… would depend on whether my master would teach you… and he's, um, not a very open person." turning back to Rei, he added "And honestly, I'm not sure how the Ripple even works. My master just tells me to do things and I do them."

Whenever the brown-haired teen asked about how the Ripple was even supposed to function as a martial art, he always got varying responses. As first it was 'special blood', then the explanation was 'sunlight energy' and at times the golden man proclaimed 'The courage to stand' was how it worked. Either way he could almost swear the pharaoh was making things up as the training progressed and there was a major black box in Shinji's understanding of the Ripple.

Come to think of it, Rei had a point. A martial art that could injuries would be very useful, so why hadn't Shinji heard about it before? As he entertained this thought, his attention came back to the blue haired girl, who was staring at him. Shinji broke the silence, "So, why are you here?"

"I would like to thank you for the other day," said the girl plainly "without your help we would not have been able to defeat the Angel. Additionally, you should know that I have kept your secret. No one knows you aided me in my time of need."

"Y-You did?"

"Affirmative."

* * *

 _Rei lay flat on her back on a bed in the hospital ward. The nurses and doctors had examined her for any remarkable injuries but luckily, found none. Her regeneration would allow her to be fighting fit again in just a few days. However, the blue haired girl knew that the real challenge would come when Dr. Akagi would inspect her._

 _There would be no doubt that she would question Rei about her miraculous healing in the midst of the battle. Although she had the answer, the kind boy she had met insisted on not being seen or discovered by NERV. Rei was obligated to honor her promise to him, which meant she would have to do something she had never done before: lie._

 _Although the girl had no experience in decreeing falsehoods, she was not too worried. She had read a book about lying once and that would suffice. All she had to do was be careful in what she said and all would be well._

 _Unless of course, director Ikari came in to do the questioning- there would be no possible way to lie to him, both due to his powers and because that man was her idol. The girl sincerely hoped that Ikari wouldn't come._

 _Her hopes were realized when Dr. Akagi entered the room. She seemed frantic, her blonde hair in a mess, lab coat unbuttoned and frayed, and some sparks shooting out of her shoulders. She had most likely come down from the MAGI in a hurry. She set down some papers and began to analyze Rei's vitals with her half-computer mind by using the medical equipment available. She came to the same conclusion as the doctors before her: the injuries inflicted upon their little titan by the Angel were less severe than they thought. Suspiciously less severe._

 _Dr. Akagi said nothing during this process and for a minute the blue haired thought she would get away scot free. Until the good doctor finally spoke that is. "You have no problems… even though you should be far more injured."_

 _Here it was. "Rei, I'm going to level with you. After the Angel destroyed your first body, your regeneration speed wouldn't be great enough to bring you back to the battlefield within a mere 4.67 minutes." stated the doctor, eyeing the blue haired girl from top to bottom._

" _I see." noted Rei._

" _Something similar happened with Asuka, too." continued the blonde doctor, parsing over data within her mind and on her computer terminal. "I've gone over the calculations dozens of times in 12 different simulations and none match the reality we live in. The only possible explanation is that something happened outside of my field view, which caused the both of you to become healed. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that during the 4.67 minute gap, something obstructed my view of you and your vitals."_

" _I see." noted Rei again._

 _Dr. Akagi turned towards the blue haired girl now, a thoughtful and confused look in her eyes. She decided to stop beating around the bush and ask directly. "Rei. What happened?"_

 _This was it, the moment where Rei had to lie. Luckily, she knew exactly what to say to cause Ritsuko Akagi to lose suspicion of her._

" _When the Angel destroyed my body the first time, I collapsed onto the ground and became very injured. I did not know what to do but then, fortuitously, I was healed somehow. I do not know who healed me, but whoever he was, perhaps he was a kind person." said the girl._

 _Dr. Akagi gave Rei a strange look, one the little titan had never seen before. A small silence passed between the two. The blue haired girl added "Of course, this is merely my speculation. After all, I did not see who it was that healed me or what he looked like."_

 _Dr. Akagi continued to give Rei the strange look. The blue haired girl became a tad nervous at this. Was she caught lying? But the book had been so helpful at the art of falsifying... Surely, she had done the steps correctly?_

 _The blonde-haired doctor opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Eventually, it closed. "I see. So, you don't know what happened either?"_

" _Negative." The girl tried to look as truthful as possible while fidgeting her gloved hands nervously._

"… _I see." said the doctor after a while, still giving her strange looks. "…Fine then. You are dismissed."_

* * *

"Be assured that I was able to lie correctly and that your identity is safe." concluded Rei, who was relieved she was able to hide away her savior.

Shinji on the other hand had a sinking feeling that his troubles were only just beginning. Especially because the Angel killer was speaking directly to him, not even a meter away, and her form-fitting suit made the teenager think things about her body that he'd rather not. "Ayanami… why are you here talking to me instead of the others? I'm sure they'd be much more fun to talk to."

"Why? What do they talk about?" asked the girl.

Being the socially-inept pariah with zero friends that he was, Shinji had no idea how to respond to that.

"The reason I wish to partake in social pleasantries with you is because you have saved my life and I believe you to be a kind person. Also, Asuka does not want to talk to me."

Now that, Shinji could believe. Their school's idol could be very moody and considering Rei took the kill last night instead of Asuka… well, everyone in the district knew about her pride. A crestfallen super-girl was to be expected. Still, "Don't worry about Asuka. She can get like that sometimes. Give it a day or two and she'll be happy again." smiled Shinji, trying to reassure her.

"Do you know her as well?"

Shinji noticeably stiffened. "I… I've seen her around before… and we talk sometimes… mostly Asuka trying to find me though since I hide a lot…" the boy shook his head "A-Anyway, you probably shouldn't be talking to me. I, well, I'm kind of the creepy kid that no one likes and… if you start talking to me, the others might not like you. I don't want to ruin your chances at making friends."

"You have a very low opinion of yourself." Rei bluntly noted. Shinji could not disagree with her on that but averted his gaze out of shame nonetheless.

Finally, the Angel-killer started to move away from the invisible boy. She took a step backward and turned to the side "I will go talk to the others at your insistence." At that, Shinji's heart skipped a beat even if he didn't want to admit it. The girl turned away from him and began walking through the bushes back to civilization, where the pariah could not follow. Before she left his vision, she turned to him one last time and said in a gentle voice "Whatever you think you are, know that you have saved my life, Asuka's life, and those of Shelter 21, mysterious boy"

Realizing that he never gave his name once during their conversation, the mysterious boy replied back "…sorry, I'm Shinji. Just call me Shinji."

"Very well, Shinji. Goodbye."

She left him. A feeling of emptiness welled up inside the boy, but deep down he knew this was for the best. The less people associated with him, the better off they would be. Even if talking to some of them was pleasant.

"He is behind the bushes." announced Rei before the athletic Toji and nerdy Kensuke leapt from the fray to bombard the black cloaked teen with their presence.

"Let me take a picture of you!" shouted Kensuke excitably.

"GET OVER HERE AND LET ME THANK YOU PROPERLY, DAMN IT!" Toji raged.

Shinji, who had vowed not to use his powers, had no choice but to run away from the two young men. Unfortunately, this plan backfired because Toji, in a rare moment of forethought, surrounded the immediate area with a dome constructed of solid energy. His back against a glowing green wall, Shinji gulped as the two young men approached him.

"Don't run away." The athlete pointed at him dangerously. Kensuke ferociously nodded in agreement. The purple eyed boy began to sweat, trying to think of a way out. The man in red eyed the invisible boy up and down before saying "You really don't like people, do ya?"

"…And people don't really like me." replied Shinji. As Kensuke snapped some pictures of the famed invisible boy, the athlete sighed and stuck out his hand in greeting.

The boy's purple eyes looked at the hand. "…I don't like to be touched."

"Yer making me thanking you really difficult." said Toji dryly, still expending some concentration to maintain the green walls.

"Sorry..."

The man in the red tracksuit retracted his hand and tried a different approach. "Name's Toji. You saved my family and I owe ya one." the black cloaked boy fidgeted, unused to being thanked for anything "I mean… I did what I could and… you're welcome I guess… I'm Shinji."

"I really mean it. My sister and my dad are everything to me. I'll repay you however you want." The brown-haired man pounded his chest once to indicate how serious it was. The boy in black replied he didn't need any sort of compensation for his work, but the athlete was insistent. The invisible boy couldn't really think of anything that he needed from Toji.

"Well if you think of something, let me know. And it can be anything at all. You can even punch me in the face if you want."

Shinji frowned "Why would I want to punch you in the face?"

"Dunno. Just sayin'." the man shrugged. Toji noticed that his friend hadn't even introduced himself, yet was taking as many pictures of Shinji as he could. The athlete knocked Kensuke on the forehead and put him in a headlock "And this knucklehead is Kensuke. Way too obsessed with his camera, as you could tell."

Getting his cue, the nerdy young man freed himself from his friend's grasp and promptly introduced himself to the infamous Invisible Boy. "Glad to meet you! I can't believe you're real! What's with the cloak? Can we move to an area with better lighting!?"

"Oi, not to rain on your parade dude, but don't you remember what happened the last time NERV tried to get his picture?" Toji interjected. At first, Kensuke didn't know what he was talking about. When he saw Shinji eyeing his camera, it clicked: there were no photos of the Invisible Boy in their high school. None in the yearbooks, none in the student registry, none by other students. Anything that took a picture of him mysteriously broke down before the photos could reach prying eyes.

"No, please, this is the only camera I have left!" Kensuke begged, hugging his camera close.

Shinji frowned, but held firm. "Sorry, but it's already done. I… can't have my identity getting out."

The military nut looked down at his camera: it was normal and still perfectly functional. For an instant, the teen questioned what Shinji's words meant, but then he checked his storage and found it was all deleted. Quickly flipping through his camera, Kensuke found his SD card was gone, despite the fact it was in there not five minutes ago. "How did you even-!?"

"… I have to remain a secret…" Shinji decreed one final time with much insistence. The curly haired photographer frantically looked around for his card but did not find it. Turning back to the Invisible Boy, he raged "How could you!? I had so many great pictures on there!"

"Dude, just take more pictures. It's what you do anyway." said Toji nonchalantly. Kensuke jabbed a finger in his chest and shouted "Are you kidding me!? First of all: everything I take is going to be famous one day and can't be so carelessly thrown away! Second of all: that card had all my shots of all the lovely ladies in our class on it!"

Toji backed away, "Dude!"

Kensuke grinned, "I had some from Hikari. Voluntarily of course."

"Like I care!" the athlete shouted very quickly. Turning over to Shinji, the photographer said with disdain "And you ruined all of it! So what are you going to do now!?"

"I… I'm sorry?" the boy stammered out.

"I'll tell you what you're going to do." The perverted photographer summoned another SD card, inserted it into the camera and gestured to Shinji: "You're going to fill up this blank card with new pictures! By using your power of invisibility- or teleportation- or whatever the hell it is, you can sneak into the girl's locker room and take pics unnoticed, right?" Kensuke was already fantasizing, a bit of blood already dripping from his nose. More blood dripped down when Toji smacked him over the head.

"I apologize on behalf of Kensuke."

"It's okay…"

"For real though," Toji leaned in closely, to make sure no one else could listen "c-can you actually do that? Just outta curiosity…"

"No!" Shinji yelped before composing himself, "I mean, no, I would never use my power for that!"

"…" Kensuke stared at the infamous boy, taking careful note of his wording, "So you CAN do it…"

Their hormone-addled talks continued until the end of lunch, and as much as Shinji was against it, the athlete in red and the perverted photographer had inserted themselves into his life.

* * *

The end of the day had come at last to the denizens of Tokyo-3. As this was the first night since the Angel war began, it was almost compulsory for everyone to consume more than their fair share of alcohol. Sake, beer, wine, all drinks that were the bane of rational thought and the perfect doorway to escapism flowed through the veins of the city to those who needed it. Some drank to forget the loss of life, of the minuscule yet all too important population that no longer existed. Some drank to ease the pain of their work, as now that Tokyo-3 was a war-zone, the workload of the populace significantly increased. Some drank to celebrate a successful warding of the apocalypse, even if temporary.

All and all, Misato was pretty sure that the drunken haze of the Japanese public would be good enough to mask the covert meeting she was having with Ritsuko.

The two women sat in Misato's choice hangout: a high-class bar at the end of town. Dimly lit in red with rustic furniture and a soft jazz band, the doctor was pleasantly surprised at the maturity of the place. This was especially so considering it was the hyperactive drunken strategic commander who had recommended the joint.

A pair of glasses slid their way down the smooth wooden counter, arriving perfectly at their destination in front of the two women. Both were dressed for the occasion, Ritsuko a dark blue dress that sparkled when she moved, while Misato took an equally befitting purple dress that showed off more skin than her counterpart. Their clothes, not remotely work related, were intended to give off an impression of two friends simply drinking.

"So, we clear?" asked Misato, taking a sip of her high-class chilled sake, relishing the smooth taste.

"One bug dead," replied Ritsuko, silently hacking the MAGI to both search for and destroy anything that could listen in on their conversation. Apparently, this bar only had the one, so her work was done. "None left."

The purple dressed woman nodded her head, "What's up, Ritski?"

The blonde doctor took a moment to clear her head. "So much is happening." she began, basking in the warm lights above. After letting the calm soak in for a few seconds, she turned back to Misato "Our boss may be the most unhinged man in the world."

"I thought you said you had something new to talk about?" the purple haired woman shot her friend a grin. She dismissed her expression and became more serious, "What's up?"

"He wants human trials for Project Fenrir within two weeks."

The strategic commander solemnly nodded, understanding the implications. She took another swig and drowned the whole glass, promptly asking for another before turning back to Ritsuko. "I kind of expected this if I'm being honest. Since we now know the Angel's have a core…"

"The project has a higher chance of success." finished the blonde doctor. Another round of liquor made its way to Misato, who took a small sip. "We have to do what it takes to defeat the Angels."

"Suppose we succeed with the project and defeat the Angels. What happens afterwards?" countered the doctor. Misato didn't know the answer and at the moment, didn't particularly care. That is, until she reminded herself that Gendo Ikari had numerous psychological issues. Speaking of which…

"There's something I've got to tell you." sighed the purple haired woman. She had kept his presence a secret for so long, but now that the MAGI were running at full capacity and Gendo's bugs were everywhere, she couldn't do it alone anymore.

Her compatriot didn't seem to hear her, speaking about the situation again. "In addition, NERV has two internal problems we need to solve behind the scenes. The first is the re-emergence of the frenzy. We found one guy in an alleyway with all the symptoms, including the people he bludgeoned to death. We had to cover it up and put him in my lab."

Misato raised an eyebrow. The frenzy hadn't been active for two whole years, and now it had infected someone just as the Angel attacked? That was suspicious.

"Like the others, we're studying him and trying to isolate the pathogen responsible." spoke the doctor, sighing from frustration. "And as if that wasn't enough mysteries on my hand, I have to figure out who healed Rei and Asuka while we weren't looking."

"Yeah, about that…" began Misato.

"The Magi are tracking 'his' signature, but it will be a while before we figure it out. The only thing I know for certain is that Rei saw this man but lied to me about it. She actually lied to me! She's never done that before, even when she's gotten into trouble!" The doctor exasperated, both annoyed and proud that the little titan was trying new things.

"May I speak?" Misato asked drolly. Ritsuko apologized for her repeated interruptions and let her friend talk. The purple haired woman took one last sip of her refreshing sake. "I… might be able to help out with that last mystery, Ritski."

"…Yes?"

"…His name is Shinji. He's the guy at Tokyo-3 High that our guys haven't seen yet. He healed both the girls and stopped the Angel in the middle of the battle. I kind of maybe secretly let him live with me for the last six years without the government noticing..."

Ritsuko's jaw dropped. Before she could question her friend, Misato continued "I'm telling you this because I don't think I can keep him a secret anymore. Not without your help. See, I'm the only one he trusts and well…

"… You won't believe who his father is."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Whoever thought it would be easy to guess Shinji's power clearly doesn't know me very well.

My oneshot manga is nearly completed, so I figured I would post this a bit early. Once I get going for real, the chapters will take much less time to complete. On that note, this one was about 15,000 words long, which makes me really happy I have this site to submit it to instead of deviantart- my watchers there will know exactly what I mean. Speaking of which, check me out on deviantart under the same username to see the pretty pictures I'll be drawing of this series, found under my 'Super Evangelion' folder.

Anywho, this chapter is mostly world building, character development and setting up future plot. I have so much planned and I can't wait to write it! Next chapter will have the second Angel attack!


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